Win a $5,000 environmental education programme thanks to TREEmendous!
TREEmendous Education Programme by the Mazda Foundation launches today. It has been designed to help NZ schools develop student-led environmental sustainability projects with help from Ruud ‘the Bugman’ Kleinpaste.
The programme is an evolution of TREEmendous, which launched in 2007 and saw over 39,000 native trees and shrubs planted to create interactive outdoor learning spaces at more than 50 schools around the country.
Kleinpaste says the team found that many schools needed more than an outdoor area of their school to truly incorporate the outdoors into students’ learning.
“We saw opportunities to turn the entire schools’ grounds into an outdoor learning environment, with extra tools and knowledge for the teachers to fully incorporate it into their curriculum.
“I’m so excited to inspire and support students and teachers in tackling the most outrageous and unexpected environmental projects they can come up with. From enhancing biodiversity around the school to cleaning up a local waterway or creating habitats for wildlife, beekeeping and bird monitoring programmes, the opportunities are endless,” he says.
The programme, open to all primary and intermediate schools, aims to help schools implement and run their very own sustainability or conservation project, leaving them with the tools and resources to make it an ongoing part of the curriculum.
Five schools will receive a visit from Mazda Ambassadors’ Ruud ‘the Bugman’ Kleinpaste and Shark Scientist-Riley Elliot who will engage with the whole school to inspire and encourage students to consider the importance of our Environment and what they could do to preserve it for future generations. Kleinpaste will spend a second day with teachers to focus on the individual school’s needs, help identify ways to use their outdoor areas as teaching tools and advise on their environmental project.
One of the five schools will also receive a $5,000 cash grant from the Mazda Foundation, which they could use to enhance the school grounds or be a welcome part of the budget for an exciting environmental school project.
Mazda Foundation Chairman David Hodge says they are excited to continue helping Kiwi kids reconnect with nature and improve their environmental literacy through the TREEmendous Education Programme.
“In the last 12 years we’ve done some amazing things at schools and it’s been so rewarding to help students around the country reconnect with nature.
“TREEmendous Education Programme is about creating hands-on learning opportunities and will not only create memorable learning opportunities, but also increase environmental literacy in schools,” he says.
Let your imagination run wild – nothing is out of bounds. Apply now for a TREEmendous Education Programme for your school! Entries close 30 November 2020 and winners will be announced 1 February 2021.
Please visit: www.treemendous.org.nz for more information and to apply.