The CCL chapter in Bellevue, WA, was founded in 2014 by volunteer Gwen Hanson, who still serves as group leader today. “We are a busy chapter that prioritizes equipping our youth to help in the fight against climate change,” Gwen says.

Lately they have been doing this through the middle school curriculum created by CCL Youth Action Team Coordinator Sharon Bagatell and her team. Members of the Bellevue and Snohomish CCL chapters had the opportunity to teach portions of this curriculum to middle-schoolers at Maplewood Parent Cooperative School in Edmonds, WA. The group of volunteer teachers, which included high school students Vihaan Tandon and Jeremy Suzuki, covered topics like lobbying Congress, the En-ROADS policy simulator, writing letters to the editor, and more.

“We teamed up. Two of us would go to each class — one to be the primary teacher, and the other to be a backup to answer questions as needed or to tag team, each one teaching part of the lesson. That worked really well,” explained chapter member Gene Robertson, who taught a few of the lessons. 

“I was excited to see a variety of chapter members step up to teach the students. And the kids were great — sometimes they didn’t seem like they were paying attention, but then they’d ask a really insightful question,” marveled chapter member John Nave, who also taught some lessons. 

The middle school students were especially responsive to Jeremy and Vihaan, who even joined them to shoot hoops. The chapter has already been invited back next year. Fantastic outreach work, CCL Bellevue!

CCL has nearly 400 chapters across the country. Find your local chapter today and get plugged in.