Students take action to help the environment by developing and implementing an invasive species removal plan on their school grounds or in collaboration with local parks.

Students analyze manmade and human features in the environment on school grounds and determine if these features affect the local watershed, specifically the biodiversity of the trees, invertebrates, land animals, and birds. Students conduct a Bioblitz on school grounds using the MapplerK2 smartphone app and upload biodiversity data to a map using the GPS function on their phones.

Envirothon is a statewide competition for high school students. Students study topics such as aquatics, forestry, soils and wildlife and participate annually in an outdoor competition. Envirothon teams are made up of five students who work together to study Maryland’s natural resources throughout the school year. All topics are hands-on and include practical skills. Training is conducted by experts in each field. Students train in the fall and spring with resource professionals in four content areas and one topic that changes annually.

The Environmental Literacy and Outdoor Education program offers year-long and semester long high school internships. Education interns work with the kindergarten program at Downs Park or the fourth grade program at Arlington Echo, teaching students through outdoor experiential learning.