The Youth Network for Healthy Communities (YNHC)
History and Overview of YNHC
In September of 2000, the CEEH sponsored a statewide town meeting entitled Voices for Healthy Environments, Healthy Communities. This event gave community members a chance to discuss local environmental conditions that affect human health. CEEH staff collaborated with a wide range of community organizations and government agencies to assure that meaningful participation was available to all. Young people in particular were identified as a group that needed to be well represented if the meeting was to succeed. Today’s youth are, after all, tomorrow’s decision makers.
While preparing for the town meeting, CEEH staff asked thirty teachers participating in a workshop for their ideas on how to involve youth from around Washington State in the upcoming town meeting event. Two high school teachers, Jay Young and Nancy Sedlacek, suggested that this would be a perfect use of the new statewide K-20 videoconferencing network. They pointed out that it was nearly impossible for teachers and students to travel large distances to participate in events and that it would therefore be difficult to get meaningful involvement from any schools except those in the greater Seattle metropolitan area. Working together with these teachers, CEEH staff launched the YNHC project.
Four weeks before the town meeting was scheduled to take place, seven teachers from middle and high schools around the state attended a videoconference orientation during which they were introduced to the project materials and given an overview of the core concepts of environmental health and toxicology. The teachers represented a variety of subjects including social studies, English as a second language (ESL), science, and language arts. During the next month, the teachers helped their students identify and research community-based EHS research projects. Finally, on the first day of the town meeting event, student groups from each site presented their findings at a videoconference session attended by NIEHS Director Dr. Kenneth Olden, his staff, and other key EHS scientists.
Due to the success of this initial session, we decided to continue to offer the YNHC program as a regular part of our outreach and education efforts. Since the program began in 2000, over 140 teachers from around Washington state have participated, reaching thousands of middle and high school students. We have also had teachers participate from Oregon and Guatemala.
How to get involved in YNHC
Middle and high school teachers from any discipline are invited to participate in the YNHC.
Participating teachers receive:
- Valuable xperience using the K20 videoconference network for a student-centered activity.
- A printed YNHC Teacher’s Guide with all the materials necessary to participate. (Click HERE to download a PDF version of the guide)
- An introductory project orientation via videoconference.
- Substitute reimbursement (if needed) for the day of the student videoconference session.
- A $100 stipend to help purchase classroom materials or supplies.
- Certificates of achievement to distribute to students who participate.
In exchange, teachers agree to:
- Locate the school technology person and arrange to use the videoconference equipment on the scheduled dates.
- Attend the orientation videoconference (with a few students if possible).
- Use the materials included in the YNHC Teacher’s Guide to help the students identify and research locally relevant environmental health projects.
- Bring one or more groups of students to the student presentation session to present their project(s). Each teacher will have approximately 15 minutes of “air time” to divide up as they see fit.
- Complete and return the student and teacher evaluation forms to provide project staff with feedback.
The YNHC Web Site
Under the leadership of YNHC founder Jay Young, students at Wenatchee High School have developed and maintain a dedicated YNHC web site. The site includes current information about the project, an interactive map of Washington State showing past project participants, a complete list of student research topics to date, and contact information for teachers who have participated in past sessions.
Cick HERE or on the screenshot on the right to go to the YNHC site.