'YES' to eco-education
Idealistic students prepare and present environmental projects at summit

LEE - Local educators say YES is environmental education at its best.

The recent Youth Environmental Summit was a successful showcase of sustainable and eco-minded efforts under way in the county's schools and nonprofit organizations.

Last Thursday's summit, formerly known as the Student Environmental Expo, has been coordinated over the past four years by the Berkshire Environmental Educators Network (BEEN). It was held at Lee Middle and High School.

"In previous years, it has been so successful that now it's getting infectious," said Jane Burke, director of the Flying Cloud Institute and a leader of BEEN.

This year's event was the first cross-county collaboration between Flying Cloud and the Center for Ecological Technology, in partnership with the Berkshire Bank Foundation's Berkshire Environmental School Teams (BEST) program.

Participating BEST schools include Lanesborough Elementary School, Conte Middle School and Undermountain Elementary School.

About 130 students from these schools participated in the YES event, as did students from Lee Public School, Mount Everett Regional Middle and High School, Conte Community School, Egremont Elementary School, Monument Mountain Regional High School and Taconic High School.

Through BEEN, environmental consultants can help nonprofit groups and schools tailor hands-on environmental projects that meet the Massachusetts learning standards in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

"It's about going beyond flipping over rocks and thinking, 'That's cool,' " said YES coordinator Ezra Small.

The student presentations at YES were exemplary. The projects involved research, such as data collection and tabulation, as well as creating a physical project and preparing written and oral reports.

Topics included vernal pools, school recycling programs, neighborhood planning and solar ovens.

Seventh-grader Ryan Edmonds of Conte Middle School said he'd learned that "clean energy is just as good as any other kind. I think (students are) finally noticing what pollution is doing, and it's starting to get worse."

Sophomores from Lee High School's advanced biology class served as ushers for the summit and said they were impressed by the work of the younger students.

"When we were in elementary school, the environment didn't seem to be such a big issue," said Maeve Guinan.

Molly Porter agreed, "With these younger kids, it seems like they really care."