City of Sammamish hosts climate change camp with local youth
The City of Sammamish is partnering with a team of youth to bring an educational summer camp for kids that is focused on learning about climate change.
From July 22 to 26, Planet Youth Project, which is an organization founded by a group of Eastlake High School students, will be hosting a series of immersive, half-day summer camps at Ebright Park for elementary-school-aged kids across the community. The goal of the camps is to educate youth about climate change and environmental conservation, and inspire kids to become more involved in climate activism. Organizers plan to use games, art and outdoor simulations to bring this curriculum to life.
The camp will also introduce important and applicable life skills, including leadership, communication, and STEM skills like studying plants and engineering homemade solar ovens. It is completely free for attendees.
Planet Youth Project was founded in 2021 by Hila Tor, a recent graduate of Eastlake who currently attends Yale University. It started as a student-led organization that hosted online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic for elementary school students, covering climate change and its impacts on the world.
Since then, Planet Youth Project has grown its programming, and now offers an in-person introduction to climate change class, as well as online sustainable living and environmental innovations classes. This is in addition to community outreach, such as making in-class visits and participating in assemblies and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) nights at various elementary schools. They also table at farmers markets stations and host library workshops. This will be the first time that Planet Youth Project has run a free summer camp. “
We want that to be open to everyone regardless of background or financial situation,” Tor said in an interview.
To provide a safe education environment, Tor said their camp will always have adults present, many of whom are members of Planet Youth Project’s board of directors. Adult and youth volunteers will undergo extensive training, especially on the use of first aid kits. Even with all the precautions for child safety. Tor also said the camp activities are “tame and overall very safe.”
The camp will start at 9:00 a.m. each morning, with kids rotating between traditional learning and educational fun until noon. Games and hands-on activities include making solar ovens, identifying trees, making terrariums, and there will be games like dodgeball with a soft beach ball for fun.
Planet Youth Project aims to make the content easily understandable for kids with little to no prior knowledge on climate change. According to Tor, the learning portion will be action-based, incorporating lots of discussion and hands-on learning. The topics covered each day will be cumulative, so Tor recommends that kids attend the full, five-day experience. “We want to establish [climate change] as something they can take action against, and powerful action against,” Tor said. “It’s a way to get your kid engaged in something in the summer while still learning something, having fun, and meeting other kids.”
Planet Youth Project’s summer camps will run July 22 to 26, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., at Ebright Park in Sammamish. To learn more and sign up, go to their website.
