Mission

SWEP promotes environmental stewardship by connecting students to their community and local environment through comprehensive watershed education and service-learning.

Vision

Students in the Tahoe/Truckee region understand the environment in which they live and are empowered to take action in their community to make a positive difference.  Students, together with community partners and teachers, work collaboratively to address relevant environmental and social issues. 

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History

Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) is a small, community-oriented non-profit organization based within the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District. We started out in 1994 as a small group of parents and teachers interested in providing comprehensive science education to the students in our local classrooms. In 1995, SWEP received a grant from AmeriCorps and Adopt-A-Watershed and began to incorporate science programs, outdoor field studies, and ecological restoration projects into the curriculum of our local school district. SWEP officially incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in 1997. We currently have two staff members, a committed volunteer core, and an active Board of Directors that collectively help us achieve our mission.

What We Do

SWEP’s primary role is to build collaborative community partnerships that promote the implementation of hands-on watershed science education. We accomplish this task by providing teacher trainings, community education and outreach, and collaborative efforts in service-learning that emphasize the elements of the Adopt-A-Watershed (AAW) science curriculum. The AAW science curriculum is endorsed by the local Tahoe Truckee Unified School District and provides an innovative K-12 environmental education framework that uses the school’s local watershed as a living laboratory. Students participate in outdoor field studies and service-learning projects that apply concepts learned in the classroom to the stewardship of the surrounding watersheds. Students are able to learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized projects that are conducted in and meet the needs of the local community. Ultimately this type of service-learning strategy is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students while fostering their civic responsibility. We call our educational model Place-Based Service-Learning (PBSL).

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Guiding Principles and Core Values

SWEP is fueled by a passion for promoting the high quality education our children deserve and a deep commitment to environmental stewardship. Through our programs, SWEP encourages all members of the community to embrace sustainability and foster preservation of our unique environment.  

SWEP embraces three guiding principles:

 

1. Place is the context for learning.

Our watershed is our unique place. When students are able to discover how the world works, starting with the place they live, their education becomes relevant.

SWEP embraces using the local environment and community as the context for interdisciplinary learning which is the core of Place Based Service Learning (PBSL).

 

• SWEP uses collaborative partnerships between students, educators and community members to complete conservation and restoration projects and field studies.  These experiences provide the challenges and rewards that prepare them for a life-long commitment to environmental stewardship.
• SWEP promotes watershed education and service projects that demonstrate the complexity of local issues and utilize a dynamic and interdisciplinary curriculum.
• SWEP is committed to supporting educators’ professional development goals through mentoring and training programs.  This support seeks to develop an interdisciplinary teaching style and leadership skills. 

2. Knowledge about environmental systems and a personal connection to the natural world produce stewards of the environment.

Children of the 21^st century face physical and social barriers to the natural world that limit their opportunities to form a connection to the environment. Exploration and a diversity of experiences within the natural world are critical to overcoming those barriers.  SWEP believes that time spent in the watershed is the simplest, most effective way for students to discover and develop a personal connection to nature.

 

• SWEP uses all available resources to ensure students can effectively learn about complex natural systems. An interdisciplinary, experiential approach not only meets state adopted academic standards, but is also the best way to connect those standards to work and life opportunities.
• SWEP develops the knowledge and skills essential to foster stewardship among youth.
• SWEP projects encourage discovery, reflection and student ownership of learning.  These values help to create a valued connection to the natural world. 

3. Civic engagement and service to community are the pillars of a democratic society

Service to community is the cornerstone of SWEP programming.  In order for students to become civically engaged, they must first understand how human decisions and actions impact their community. Students must then practice the skills of democracy- organization, communication, collective decision-making, and critical thinking. This practice comes through service and is essential to developing the habits of responsible citizenship.

 

• SWEP promotes projects that foster integration rather than separation of environmental and social issues.
• Meaningful service-learning projects allow students to engage in the community through direct participation. This is an authentic opportunity for students to develop leadership skills and for youth voice to be included in the community.
• SWEP creates the opportunity for students to see themselves as part of the community and part of solutions to community problems.
• SWEP will be part of the community effort to include all races and economic groups in civic engagement and community service actions.

Who We Are

SWEP is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors which currently has seven members, and our programs are administers by a staff of two credentialed educators.

Program Areas

• Projects and Partnerships: SWEP provides direction and leadership for creating partnerships between local schools and resource agencies that oversee environmental restoration and monitoring projects. Through these partnerships we prioritize conservation and restoration needs in our local communities and then create Service-Learning projects that focus on real community issues and involve local schools, community members, and resource partners.
• Training and Education: SWEP promotes active and effective involvement in watershed education among community partners, students, teachers, and parents. We offer Community Leaders in the Classroom lectures, Winter Workshops, Place-Based Learning Workshops, and an on-going series of trainings for teachers called the Teachers Interpretive Hike Series. For more information about any of these trainings, check the listing for Upcoming Events or contact Jan Ellis at jan@4swep.org.
• Public Outreach: SWEP has ongoing outreach efforts to promote SWEP’s activities, mission, and our watershed education programs. We collaborate with other local and regional education-based organizations to improve the extent, quality, and content of watershed projects. SWEP recently spear-headed an environmental Public Service Announcement project that airs regularly on our local television networks and features local 5^th grade students from Rideout Elementary School.
• Long Range Planning and Sustainability: SWEP and the members of the partnerships actively manage the sustainability of established projects, programs, and the organization as a whole. We maintain a Fundraising Plan that is consistent with long-range goals and objectives of the organization, we track long-term project data generated from watershed projects to increase learning opportunities and evaluate program effectiveness, and we strive to strengthen our overall organizational and administrative management. In addition, each year SWEP invites program partners to an Annual Retreat where participating members evaluate the program and prepare for new partnerships and watershed projects.

Funding

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