VIRGINIA BEACH — The City Council in July cleared the way for two high school students to join Virginia Beach’s Green Ribbon Committee, which has an advisory role in issues related to the environment and the health of our water quality.
Parks Schmidt and Jordyn Lewis, both 17, are officially the first high school students to join the committee. The City Council voted to appoint them on Tuesday, July 13, a week after voting to allow students to join the committee. Their service is an extension of their studies.
“They will be voting members like any other member, helping to communicate with the City Council,” said Chris Freeman, a member of the Green Ribbon Committee and head of the city schools’ Environmental Studies Program since it began last year.
Through the program, Virginia Beach students get the opportunity to learn through experiences with companies in the city during part of their school day.
“It’s like an internship, but not in the traditional sense,” said Freeman, a teacher here for 18 years who said such hands-on learning is “an opportunity to reinvent what a classroom looks like.” The program enables students to work in fields that they are passionate about, such as architecture, forestry and policy and law, while finding people in the community to help them.
“I’ve always had an interest in the environment and waterways in the area,” said Schmidt, a rising senior at Cox High School. “I’ve always loved the water and nature here.”
He chose the Green Ribbon Committee as his internship, and he also is working with Dominion Energy to create a podcast on renewable energy.
“I’m excited to learn more about how the younger generation that I’m a part of can make an impact,” Schmidt said. “Virginia Beach is going to see a lot of rising sea levels in the next 20 to 30 years, and I feel that my generation is going to be on the front line of that.”
While he is unsure of his career goals, he said he is interested in integrating sustainability in engineering and business.
“I’m really looking forward to enhancing my leadership skills,” he said. “I’m really interested in the Green Ribbon Committee because I’m interested in how science will influence policy decisions to help the city in the future.”
Schmidt is not the only person who looks forward to seeing the impact of the committee incorporating young voices from the environmental studies program.
“The schools now have this wonderful program over at the Brock Environmental Center for an advanced environmental education,” said City Councilmember Barbara Henley, who represents the Princess Anne District and serves as the council liaison of the Green Ribbon Committee. “They’ve done a fantastic job at incorporating environmental studies.”
Schmidt and Lewis are two of 40 rising seniors who will be participating in this program, which is designed to get students involved and create the leaders of tomorrow.
“When students are placed in a setting like this where they are actually given a seat at the table instead of being unaware, we’re given the opportunity to help address things that haven’t been solved,” Lewis, a rising senior at Kellam High School, said.
The Environmental Studies Program is available to rising juniors and seniors in Virginia Beach who apply, providing opportunities to those who are accepted like Schmidt and Lewis.
“This is a public-private partnership between the Virginia Beach Public School System and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which has been the catalyst of creating this non-traditional classroom,” Freeman said.
The city is adding students to the Green Ribbon Committee as an initiative to increase regional resiliency. Student members also have served on other advisory bodies to the City Council, such as the Virginia Beach Historic Preservation Committee.
“Our school system is really good at preparing students for jobs that already exist, but this prepares them for the jobs that deal with the problems of tomorrow,” Freeman said.
“We train them to be ready for these jobs just on the cusp of coming out,” he added. “We help them get a better understanding of regional resiliency.”
Regional resiliency is how communities including the city of Virginia Beach prepare for things like flooding and policy issues.
“I’m most excited about being able to learn how to properly address environmental disparities professionally and create fathomable solutions,” Lewis said.
In addition to being on the Green Ribbon Committee, Lewis is being published in Green School’s National Quarterly for her essay about social and environmental disparities.
“This program allows me to learn from skilled professionals that aren’t just teachers, as well as acting as a guide to get where I want to be one day,” Lewis said. “It will allow me to branch out and gain experience that I wouldn’t have access to in a normal classroom setting.”
This change of pace from a typical classroom seems to be what people are most excited about for this new study program.
“This program is a great opportunity to bring in students,” said Jason Barney, chairperson of the Green Ribbon Committee. “Continuing the partnership we have through the schools is going to really increase outreach and teach the students about real world environmental issues.”
In addition to providing a more community-minded education, this program can teach students how to get involved in local government and make a difference.
“I think this program will show that when you create a safe space for students they are more willing and likely to be engaged and use their voice and personal experience to help themselves and others,” Lewis said.
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