Three Rising High School Seniors Start the Climate Health Education Initiative (CHEI) to Empower Younger Students Through Educational Programs

Rising Seniors Myla Leung (Churchill HS), Michelle Zhao (Churchill HS), and Sophia Ge (Blair HS) have started The Climate Health Education Initiative (CHEI)– an international organization that aims to inspire and empower youth to achieve sustainability and understand the intersection between climate change and planetary health concepts through their environmental educational programs.

“A main focus of our environmental education programs is not just to have the students regurgitate information or memorize facts, but to have opportunities to apply the knowledge they learned. For instance, after our lesson on plants, we have the students garden so they understand the importance of nurturing our environment. We also want to ensure that we’re giving our students concrete actions they can take in their own communities, whether it’s starting a composting bin in their houses or walking to school. These actions may seem simple, but they go a long way in combating climate anxiety and the climate crisis in general.” – Myla Leung

More about CHEI from the students: The program was started two years ago by Myla Leung, a rising senior at Winston Churchill High School. She was overwhelmed by the news of climate crises–the rising carbon emissions, the extreme deforestation, and increasing coral reef bleaches. She wanted to no longer remain a passive viewer of a real disaster unfolding before her, yet she felt that she lacked the knowledge to implement any tangible solutions. She knew what climate change or recycling was, but what about environmental justice, the ozone layer, or the Tragedy of the Commons? There was a breadth of topics she wanted to learn more about, and she sought to make environmental education not only accessible but also engaging.

She started by partnering with Family Learning Solutions, an organization dedicated to providing innovative educational programs and community outreach initiatives, to start her first program at Wayside Elementary School. Drawing from Myla’s experiences as a tutor, she knew that they needed to go beyond simply lecturing the students. Thus, they implemented hydroponics and gardening activities, piquing the students’ curiosity and interest.

When the program at Wayside ended, Myla wanted to expand further, but she knew she could not do it alone. She reached out to Michelle Zhao, a rising senior at Winston Churchill High School, and Sophia Ge, a rising senior at Montgomery Blair High School. Together, they began building their team by advertising on the Climate Health Education Initiative Instagram (@climatehealthei). Slowly, their account grew from 0 to now over 900 followers. This exposure helped them to grow their team from around the world, with over 95 Executive Board members hailing from countries such as the U.S., Canada, Pakistan, Indonesia, Lebanon, and Malaysia.

This summer, with the help of Churchill 4 Climate, an environmental club led by rising senior Blythe Cook, they are hosting an environmental education program at Wheaton Woods Elementary School. The Wheaton Woods program will be offered at no cost to students and will include mushroom-growing kits, recycled arts and crafts, and picture book read alouds. They will end the program with a fun game of nature-themed telephone or Animal Tag.

In the future, Climate Health Education Initiative has two new upcoming projects they will focus on. The first is to develop online modules that walk students through the environmental education curriculum they made. They hope to send out gardening kits, which will pair with the online modules, to students who register. The next project they are spearheading is to further implement their Chapters program. Chapters can be formed at the local, state, or international levels and their goal is to create a chapter guide and provide support for chapters to replicate similar environmental education programs at their local elementary schools. They also would love to host more Guest Speaker Events, where they invite professionals in the environmental science or policy fields. Their most recent Guest Speaker Event featured Joanna Synder, who discussed building foundational connections for environmental science and personal well-being to sustain oneself for environmental actions.

Climate Health Education Initiative is always accepting more Executive Board members eager to make an impact. Interested students who want to get involved with the Climate Health Education Initiative can learn more at their website, follow their Instagram (@climatehealthei), or email them at [email protected]

“One of my favorite aspects of these programs is witnessing the students’ excitement. Their enthusiasm is contagious, and they often propose creative solutions that we, as volunteers, hadn’t considered. It’s a truly reciprocal process, where we learn from the students just as much as they learn from us.” – Myla Leung

“Educating youth about the world they live in equips them with the necessary knowledge and skills to make more sustainable choices, advocate for change, and create new solutions that will benefit both current and future generations.” – Michelle Zhao