SCHOOL & YOUTH PROGRAMS

 Solana Center's education experts offer science-based school programs that inspire and empower students to live sustainably, to reduce and rethink waste, and to become change-makers on their campuses and in their communities.

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Eco-Literacy Program Offerings

Designed to be adapted for grades K-12, Solana Center is proud to offer in-person or virtual environmental lessons to students. Teachers can choose one or more of these NGSS-aligned lessons to meet their needs.

  • From the food scraps in your kitchen to the leaves on a forest floor, nature recycles every living thing back into useful resources. Let's explore how we can work with nature's systems to keep our planet healthy. Available as a single lesson or an in-depth, two-part series.

  • This presentation will break down the process of decomposition. We'll dig in to learn how invertebrates, fungi, and bacteria play an important role in all ecosystems, including a compost pile! Available as a single lesson or an in-depth, two-part series.

  • The humble earthworm is a hero in our soil and compost! Get to know these wiggly wonders and how to partner with them for a greener world. Available as a single lesson or a comprehensive 3-part series.

    Learn more about presentations for unincorporated San Diego County schools

Get in touch:
For more information about scheduling or details on pricing for incorporated San Diego region schools, contact: natalie.mazur@solanacenter.org, (760) 436-7986 ex. 725

Learn more about City of San Diego school programming:
For more information about scheduling or details on pricing for incorporated San Diego City schools, contact:
sarah.vanhorn@solanacenter.org, (760) 436-7986 ex. 709

Waste Diversion in Schools

A girl receiving a certificate from a woman at a school event with students seated in the background.

The goal of our waste diversion school program is to work with school district stakeholders to create a lunch waste sorting program in order to significantly reduce the amount of waste being taken to the landfill.

California legislation (AB 1826) has made diverting organic waste from the landfills mandatory for schools. By utilizing our waste diversion program, your students will already have the training and experience to meet diversion goals.

We offer support for:

  • Solana Center works with school staff to develop lunch waste sorting stations appropriate to your current lunch waste streams.

  • Training is provided for cafeteria and administrative staff to guide waste prevention and diversion from food services.

  • Custom education presentation will be created to support the program covering the 4 Rs (reuse, reduce, recycle, and rot), vermicomposting, and an introduction to your new sorting station. Students learn the importance of properly sorting their waste.

  • Waste audits will be performed before and after education to allow a metric for determining lunch waste sorting success.

Fun fact: after our education and outreach, one school in the San Ysidro School District achieved 96% accuracy in lunch waste sorting, enabling more of their waste stream to be recycled and composted!

Children observing soil with small containers and tools on a table.

Custom School Presentations

We welcome all other requests for school visits, and have options for both Solana Center to visit your school, or for your school to come to our site for an educational tour. While we currently charge for these visits, we are continuously looking for and applying for grants to help cover the costs of these presentations and we hope to soon be able to offer them free of charge, regardless of school location. Please complete our interest form or contact education@solanacenter.org to learn more.

Group of children and adults outdoors at an educational event, some children raising their hands, with trees and clear sky in the background.

Off-Site Presentations

Custom school presentations have the option for us to visit your school or your group visit our Center. Pricing for these presentations includes our team's packing and commute time to your location. Topics offered for this type of presentation are:

  • Vermicomposting

  • Backyard Composting (appropriate for schools that have a garden and compost bin on campus)

  • Compost Critters (an overview of all the macro-decomposers found in a compost bin, plus hands-on time with seasonally available live specimens)

Solana Center Visits

The Solana Center building with open doors, potted plants outside, and a colorful logo above the entrance, located at 137. Small trees and a clear blue sky surround the building.

These presentations take place on-site at Solana Center in Encinitas, and include a tour of our site (active compost bin displays, vermicomposting bins, rain water catchment displays, and more) and include multiple hands-on opportunities. We can either give a comprehensive presentation of all sustainable projects at our site, or you can select from our lesson topics as a theme. As we have more flexibility on our site, we are able to expand lesson plans. Contact erin.stone@solanacenter.org for a quote and for more information.

Reaching Underserved Youth

At the core of Solana Center’s mission is education. We know that school funding typically prioritizes other pressing educational and social needs and environmental curriculum is often limited in low-income schools. Considering that environmental education can actually be more important in these underserved communities, our team continues to seek partners to provide this service throughout the region. View our Case Study

More Resources for Kids: Family Fun Activities!

Environmental protection and conservation is an important goal that the whole family can take action towards. Take a look at the family fun resources for young environmental stewards with more coming soon!

“Thank you so much for visiting our school! We really enjoyed having you here. I was very impressed with the presentation and felt that it was one of the best we’ve had all year. The content was applicable to fourth grade and went with the lessons being taught in class. The best part was the 3D watershed model. This brought these abstract concepts alive and kept students engaged. As a teacher, I really appreciated the organization, preparation, and management of the presenter. She was very upbeat and kept the students’ interest. Thank you again!”

— Phoenix Learning Center Teacher