The Upper Grand District School Board is marking 30 years of its Community Environmental Leadership Program (CELP), with local programs in Mount Forest and Palmerston continuing to play a key role.
CELP is offered at Wellington Heights Secondary School in Mount Forest and Norwell District Secondary School in Palmerston, giving Grade 10 and 11 students a semester-long, four-credit program focused on environmental leadership and hands-on learning. According to the board, the programs are “the longest running interdisciplinary programs with an environmental focus in Ontario” and have been highlighted as best practices by the Ministry of Education.
Programs are delivered off-site through partnerships with organizations such as the University of Guelph Arboretum, Luther Marsh, Conestoga Lake, the Grand River Conservation Authority, and the Town of Minto. The board says each location allows students "to step into a close-knit community for the semester, appreciate nature through a wilderness trip, and foster an understanding of local and global environmental issues and action."
Students take part in a wide range of activities, including tree planting, watershed projects, agricultural and power facility tours, bird banding, and harvesting vegetables. The media release says students also develop outdoor skills through activities like hiking, camping, canoeing, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing.
The program has also supported outdoor education for younger students for three decades. The board says CELP has provided "thousands of elementary students with an outdoor and environmental education experience each semester," as secondary students help deliver programs such as Earthkeepers, Climate Crew, and EcoStars.
To mark the 30th anniversary, the school board is inviting former CELP students to share photos and stories online, and an in-person reunion is being planned for early May.
