EJ Changemakers must partner with their community, listen to its values, and support its priorities. 

EJ Changemakers intentionally include multiple perspectives from members of communities who are historically oppressed or disadvantaged to include them in the work of restoring justice. 

EJ Changemakers must be strong leaders who set priorities, inspire change, support their team, and manage work, but they must do so without hierarchy or competition.  They must lead in the service of their communities and ecosystems.  

For our redhouse research we interviewed Bill Yu from Case Western about his work with soil stability and started a research project about the remediation of lead in soil. This project yielded positive results and will be continued at Case Western. 

We took a trip to Environmental Health Watch to learn about the effects of lead poisoning on people and specifically the mass affects it has in Cleveland. We got to hear from passionate Cleveland residents about how lead poisoning has affected their livelihood and others.  

As a group we collaborated to combine all of the information, work, and projects we have completed over the semester. We talked to the Upper School at Laurel about what we have done this semester and more in hopes of inspiring other students to participate in the program in the future. 

We were given the opportunity to attend Case Western's International Law Conference which was an introduction into the law-based side of environmental justice. This was a good learning moment for me about what I am and am not interested in for my future. It was also interesting to listen to the speakers talk about topics such as dirty luxuries and native american sovereignty. 

We visited Rid-All which is an urban farm located in Cleveland, OH. It was an informative experience about how Cleveland has been affected by racist issues like redlining and how that has held Cleveland back from prosperity. Rid-All is a beautiful story of how Cleveland residents have worked together to better their community and how we can continue to help while including the voices of those most affected.  

As a group we worked to research about the invasive plants in the area surrounding our school. We learned about how these plants throw the natural cycle of an ecosystem out of balance. We worked together to remove these plants such as buckthorn and vinca. We cleared out a large area in the forest that had been overrun by buckthorn and gave native plants a chance to thrive. We combined our strength to get rid of the particularly stubborn plants and it was a good bonding experience for us.