Lilah Steece is one of two AmeriCorps serving at Cooper School. AmeriCorps volunteer members are placed with local community based organizations, non-profit organizations, schools, city and county government entities to address unmet local needs of the community in which they serve. Seattle Parks and Recreation and the Northwest Environmental Education Council have positions made possible by the oldest publicly-funded statewide service program in the nation, the Washington Service Corps (WSC). On behalf of the partners of the Earth Project at Cooper School, Lilah contributed the following:

The Cooper Elementary School Earth Project is getting off the ground this year, which means that students at Cooper are learning more about their environment! Located next to Pigeon Point Park and the West Duwamish Greenbelt, the students have wonderful wild places at their fingertips. They now have the opportunity to explore these places in more depth with the help of four local nonprofit organizations and a grant from the State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The nonprofit groups are working with students, teachers, and staff at the school to develop and implement programs focused on the environment.

With the Northwest Environmental Education Council (NWEEC), students enjoy learning about environmental science and environmental stewardship. Each classroom gets a weekly visit from the Council where they have an opportunity to learn out of doors and examine environmental topics. The Nature Consortium provides students with opportunities to express themselves and their relationships to the environment by creating art inspired by the environment.

The Nature Consortium also provides the Cooper community with opportunities to be environmental stewards by leading restoration projects in Pigeon Point Park. Camp Long, a neighbor of Cooper in West Seattle, sends naturalists from that facility to teach environmental science lessons at the school, and provide field trip opportunities so the students can explore the creatures, living things, and ecology of a different wild area.

There are many hopes for this project, and two of the goals are to strengthen students' understanding in this area of science, and to give students an opportunity to explore the natural world. All organizations working at the school are connecting their lessons to the science learning standards.

There is much more to come with the Cooper earth project, and as you walk through the halls you can feel the strengthening of community, excitement about the outdoors, and the budding of new environmental leaders.