The Mojave Environmental Education Consortium continues to grow and expand its teacher outreach efforts throughout the High Desert. This year, continued growth has ensued through a series of teacher workshops, environmental curriculum development and review, expansion of our EE Resource Libraries in Antelope Valley and Victorville, mini-grants for classroom EE projects, field trip grants, and a multitude of other EE related projects. These efforts have been accomplished through the support of MEEC’s stakeholders and educators alike.

In 2012, MEEC is proud to sponsor its seventh MEEC “Student of the Year” Awards. Each Student of the Year recipient will receive $60.00 in cash, as well as a $60.00 Staples gift card. The awards banquet will be held on May 10, 2012 at 6 PM at the Spring Valley Lake Country Club in Victorville, California.

To this end, we are soliciting one Student of the Year nomination from each school site. The nomination can come from either a principal or teacher. When selecting the student nominee, the nominator must take into consideration the work that the student has done in leadership toward environmental issues and stewardship. The following stipulations will serve as a guide for assisting you in the nomination process:
 The student will be nominated by a teacher or principal from his/her school.
 The student nominee must have spent a minimum of 12 hours in conservation and environmental education activities.
 The student has educated peer students, school employees or community in environmental issues or conservation.
 The student must have above average academic standing (>2.0 GPA for secondary, and the equivalent for primary grades).
 The student must display leadership qualities, possess good character and a good reputation among peers, and not be a disciplinary problem.

Please take the time to complete the Student-Of-The-Year-Nomination-Form and mail your submission to MEEC, 14306 Park Ave., Victorville, CA 92392. Forms may also be faxed to (760) 241-6271 or emailed to christier@mdaqmd.ca.gov. Deadline for entries April 6, 2012

The Mojave Environmental Education Consortium continues to grow and expand its teacher outreach efforts throughout the High Desert. This year, continued growth has ensued through a series of teacher workshops, environmental curriculum development and review, expansion of our EE Resource Libraries in Antelope Valley and Victorville, mini-grants for classroom EE projects, field trip grants, and a multitude of other EE related projects. These efforts have been accomplished through the support of MEEC’s stakeholders and educators alike.

In 2012, MEEC is proud to sponsor its seventh MEEC “Teacher of the Year” Awards. Three winners will be selected to receive this prestigious honor; one first place winner, who will receive $300 in cash and a plaque, and two MEEC “Teachers of Excellence” recipients, who will each receive $100 in cash and plaques. This year’s awards banquet will be held on May 10, 2012 at 6 PM at the beautiful Spring Valley Lake Country Club in Victorville, California.

To this end, we are soliciting your Principal’s nomination of the educator from your school that you feel would be most worthy of this prestigious recognition. We are looking for an educator who makes continuous and enduring contributions to environmental education, demonstrates capacity for creating and implementing successful environmental activities, shows creative approaches, promotes individual and societal environmental responsibility, and encourages youth to make informed decisions about environmental issues.

Please take the time to formulate a brief letter describing your nominee and his/her contributions to environmental education and have your principal sign the letter. Please mail your submission to MEEC, 14306 Park Ave, Victorville, CA 92392. Letters may also be faxed to (760) 241-6271 or emailed to christier@mdaqmd.ca.gov. Deadline for entries is April 6, 2012.

MEEC’s boundaries consist of the High Desert portion of San Bernardino County, the Palo Verde Valley of Riverside County and the High Desert region of North Los Angeles County, including the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale.

Scholarship(s) will be awarded to five qualifying graduating high school senior(s) in the amount of $1,000.00 each. Recipient must attend a high school located within MEEC’s boundaries as described above. Eligible students must declare a major in Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, or other closely related Science or Engineering field.

The mission of the Mojave Environmental Education Consortium (MEEC) is to improve the environmental literacy of students, teachers and Mojave Desert communities by actively providing quality educational resources. MEEC was founded in 2001 and is the High Desert zone of the California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) Network, a project of the California Department of Education.
Application Requirements
Applicants are required to provide the following:
1. A completed application form (attached)
2. Transcripts and SAT/ACT scores (unofficial copies accepted)
3. 500 word personal essay on – “My Career Goals and Why I would like a Career in the Environment, Science, or Engineering field ”
4. Application packages must be received no later than 5 PM, on April 6, 2012. Applicant packet may be mailed or dropped off at: MEEC-ATTN: Scholarship Committee, 14306 Park Ave, Victorville, CA 92392

Click Environmental Science High School Scholarship Announcement to download an application. For more information, please contact Violette Roberts, MEEC Executive Chair at (760) 245-1661 ext 6104 or email: vroberts@mdaqmd.ca.gov

MEEC is hosting a FREE TEACHER WORKSHOP, sponsored by the High Desert Power Project on Thursday, January 26, 2012, 3:45-6:30PM. The “Let’s Get Physic-al: The Basics of Energy” is a two-hour workshop focusing on how energy is generated and stored. Share in the fun of learning about the physics and basics of energy! To download a flyer, click HDPP Workshop 2012“Workshop Flyer”.

Energy is defined as the ability to do Work, and Work is defined as the transfer of Energy. Energy exists in several forms such as heat, kinetic or mechanical energy, light, potential energy, electrical, or other forms. Two billiard balls colliding, for example, may come to rest with the resulting energy becoming sound and perhaps a bit of heat at the point of impact! Participants will receive resource tools and activities to help students in grades K-12 learn about their relationship with energy and investigating the environmental issues related to energy’s role in society.

High Desert Power Project (HDPP) is an 840-megawatt (enough electricity to serve more than 800,000 households in the region) power plant project that uses three gas combustion turbines and a 323-megawatt steam turbine. The zero-liquid discharge system allows the facility to use 58,000 gallons of water per minute from the California aqueduct for steam generation. The wastewater is then treated, and about 2,600- acre-feet of water is returned to the aquifer beneath the facility each year. The water goes through four processes: pretreatment, cooling tower blow-down, zero-liquid discharge and aquifer banking.

Participants of the workshop will receive FREE STANDARDS-BASED ENERGY CURRICULUM, DINNER and a private tour of the power project.
WHEN: Thursday, January 26, 2012
TIME: 3:45PM—6:30PM
WHERE: High Desert Power Project 19000 Perimeter Rd, Victorville (located at the Southern Calif. Logistics Airport)
Reserve your spot today! Deadline to Register: January 19, 2012
Call Christie Robinson, MEEC Program Specialist at: (760) 245-1661 x 6101 or email at: christier@mdaqmd.ca.gov

For more information about how to celebrate and to help children in Grades 3-5 participate in a poster contest, check this website “Arbor Week Poster Contest”.

Workshops will include “Running on Renewables”, an energy-based workshop providing educators with the tools and resources to bring the ever-changing world of energy into their classrooms via energy kits and curriculum; “Desert Studies Photography” scholarship workshop, where (16) teachers will spend a day and a half in the Joshua Tree National Park and Morongo Preserve with wildlife photographers and biologists exploring nature and learning how to bring the outdoors inside through photography; and two new workshops, “STEM (Science, Technology, Education, and Math) Service Learning 101″, a resource workshop which will provide educators with the resources and tools necessary to bring STEM Service Learning into their classrooms and schools; and “Marine Ecology” scholarship opportunity for 16 educators to attend a three-day overnight place-based learning experience on Catalina Island.

These workshops are limited to educators. Announcements for these workshops will be available begining in December 2011.

“Boeing’s Grant allows MEEC to expand its services to teachers all over our jurisdiction, especially those in outlying areas”, commented Violette Roberts, MEEC’s Executive Board Chair. “We are truely grateful to Boeing for their commitment to High Desert communities and EE.”

The Power Point focuses on five renewable energy sources: Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Hydropower, and Biomass and how they are utilized to harness energy. Slides provide educators with great visual tools to share with their students on the different types of solar panels, how hydropower works, biomass, and the basics of wind turbine performance and construction. Wind power formulas are included as well as the formula for converting solar power to energy watts.

This Power Point is part of the MEEC “Running on Renewables” teacher workshop presentation and is available as a downloadable PDF. Renewable Energy workshop PP Presentation 2011“Running on Renewables”.

The workshop provided educators with the most up-to-date curriculum provided by the National Energy Education Development Program (NEED) and is applicable for grades K-12. To download free energy curriculum, go to: “NEED Energy Guides”