The Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) is housed in the Environmental Studies Department at University of Oregon. ELP is a collaborative, interdisciplinary service-learning program. The program seeks to give students the opportunity to develop leadership, communication, and professional skills by engaging directly in applied problem-resolution while providing valuable assistance to its community partners. ELP matches student teams with non-profit organizations, governmental agencies and businesses to address local environmental needs.
Storytelling in the field
Student story-sharing!
Restoring Connections Project 2017
The Restoring Connection team works to connect elementary school students with their home landscape in Eugene, Oregon. The Restoring Connections ELP team is a six-year project developing place-based, experiential, K-5 curriculum with both in-class and field trip lessons. Our field lessons are all based at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum and our curriculum incorporates "Coyote Mentoring" methods from Jon Young's work. These strategies include sit-spotting, journaling, storytelling and student sharing. Our teams mission is to develop children's sense of awe, personal connections to nature and responsibility to be good stewards of the land. This year we developed second grade curriculum and implemented kinder and first grade materials from last years' teams. We crafted class and field visits for each season of the school year to allow students to see the local landscape and its changes over time. Each school year students get to explore different ecosystems, learn about different environmental concepts and use the knowledge they gain to participate in a hands-on restoration activity. Our community partners are Mt. Pisgah Arboretum and Adams Elementary School. To learn more, visit our team’s website.
Second graders building "Habitat Hotels"
Kinder students playing "Nature Bingo"
Second Grade Curriculum
Our second grade curriculum was based in the Douglas-fir forest habitat. We focused on the concepts of biodiversity, interdependence and layers of the canopy to give awareness and knowledge about the importance of forest health. This curriculum was implemented in Spring 2017 and we served over 225 students consisting of Kinder, first, and second graders. To view our curriculum please visit our team website (below).