Excited chatter fills the sixth period AP Environmental Science class (APES). In between discussing how to build their batteries, junior and senior students get to know each other speaking in both English and Spanish.
On March 8, PHS began its inaugural exchange program with students from Latin America. Four students, two from Ecuador and two from Nicaragua, stayed with host families in California for a total of three weeks, and stayed in Alameda County for one of those weeks.
Working together with the 21 APES students in 6th period, the Latin American students spent the period making portable solar charged batteries that can charge electronics, more commonly known as solar notebooks. The exchange students were able to take the portable chargers back home for school and recreational use.
“These solar notebooks will be able to go in the kids’ backpacks and suitcases back to their villages in Ecuador and Nicaragua, and our hope is that they can use the notebooks to charge their phones and tablets, and next year’s APES kids can talk to them,” science teacher Marna Chamberlain said.
Chamberlain and Piedmont Exchange Program Coordinator and Global Student Embassy worker Sarah Cadorette organized the exchange program. Chamberlain has been working with Cadorette all year, developing lesson plans for her APES class.
“[Cadorette] came in to APES and she did a lesson on different farming techniques and talked about farming bills,” Chamberlain said. “We will end up doing a debate later in the year on whether or not different farming subsidies and programs should be changed. She’s been a big help.”
Junior Cooper Ford, along with the other juniors and seniors in the 6th period APES class, got the unique opportunity to work with the students from Latin America.
“Seeing my peers from a different country studying the same material that I am is eye-opening,” Ford said.
Ford said that his interest in environmental science stems from his experiences as a Boy Scout.
“As I grew older and learned more about the environment, I started getting interested in how society, the economy and politics are influencing the environment,” Ford said.
Sixteen year old Ecuadorian exchange student Maria Sol Gonzalez said that she has also been interested in the environment from a young age.
“I have always been interested in environmental sciences,” Gonzalez said. “One of the main reasons that I choose to help the environment is that we have to salvage what we have left on the planet.”
In her work to help save the environment, Gonzalez said that she has worked on projects to halt deforestation in Ecuador.
In APES, Chamberlain has put an emphasis on the real world applications of environmental science, involving modern farming techniques and laws in the curriculum. Chamberlain said that Cadorette has aided her in adding new and interesting information to the APES class.
PHS will also send students abroad to fulfill its end of the exchange program. Students will head to Cuenca, Ecuador to work with other high school students in the area on urban agriculture projects. Cuenca is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that sits at 14,000 feet in the Andes mountains, Cadorette said.
“[Cuencas] has a rich history, marked by several waves of immigration from people in different parts of the world, that gives it a complex and dynamic cultural legacy,” Cadorette said.
Cadorette said that five students have signed up for the trip, but there is still plenty of space available. Students should speak to Chamberlain for more information.
“There is no application process,” Cadorette said. “Students must simply be willing to spend time this summer working side-by-side with other high school students in Ecuador on projects related to environmental restoration, while practicing their Spanish and building cross-cultural awareness.”
