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IrvingYES (Youth for Environmental Sustainability) is an environmental education program targeting students, faculty and staff of high school, college and universities in the Irving area. The program began in September, 2010 with the City of Irving receiving program development funds from the North Central Texas Council of Governments. This funding allowed for the creation and implementation of curriculum, a website and educational tools based on sustainability concepts and activities.
Students who participated in the project learned about sustainability through lecture, discussion and hands-on experiments. Some of the many activities included building a miniature watershed and learning how land and eco-systems are impacted by development and urbanization; building compost piles; studying energy conservation and learning how to perform a do-it-yourself energy audit; studying waste flow, through conducting an waste audit; hearing guest speakers and having the opportunity to attend eco-tours.
Participating students also committed to an internal school impact and an external community impact to put into practice many of the sustainable concepts learned through being a member of IrvingYES. Examples were increasing campus recycling rates; implementation of an on-campus community garden; public presentation and competing in the Rain Barrel Competition and Exhibition event.
Hundreds of students participated, giving thousands of hours to learn and better their school campus and community.
The IrvingYES program continues to grow, adding new environmental features, topics and activities. You are invited to be a part of this exciting journey to learn more about how you can be a better steward of the planet, community and school.
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New – iYES Lecture Series. This series is funded by North Lake College and features sustainability expert, Lori De La Cruz, as she correlates environmental issues with our country’s history. She will recount our past environmental behaviors, discuss how those have impacted our present-day situations and encourage students to express their observations on what their environmental future looks like. To learn more, click on the iYES Lecture Series icon on the left.
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NEW - Eco-Movies are available for check-out for use at the schools only (not for personal use). All are listed online under “Resources”, then “Eco-Movies”. Complete the check-out form and submit request to
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Social marketing tools have been created for students to use for peer to peer contact about these environmental issues. The “Each One, Teach One” approach allows IrvingYES participants to engage fellow students through media they are accustomed to using. Students are encouraged to spread the word about IrvingYES and share information about sustainability and the benefits of environmental stewardship.
This website is open and available for all to view, learn and share.
Keep up with the Irving YES project through Facebook, Flickr, YouTube or follow iYES on Twitter. |
