Episode 37: Student-powered learning and mentorship

With Jane Hiller of the Environmental Education Association of South Carolina and South Carolina Green Step Schools

What is student-powered learning? Why is it so impactful? In what ways can mentorship be most effective? How can mentors help teach in-service teachers? What is the key to sustaining environmental projects year after year? The Green Step Schools program in South Carolina, USA has been running for almost two decades, allowing students and teachers to experience such projects as vermicomposting, math gardens, and bluebird trail monitoring. The program’s coordinator Jane Hiller joined us to share her insights, while sharing stories of some of the most innovative green projects happening in the realms of conservation, protection, and restoration. 

Guest:

Jane Hiller is the coordinator of SC Green Steps Schools, a program designed to help South Carolina schools earn awards for establishing sustainability projects where students learn, do, and teach others. A former classroom teacher, Hiller understands the challenges teachers face as they seek to provide meaningful learning experiences about environmental stewardship within their schools. She recently retired as education director for Sonoco Recycling, where she was responsible for educating local governments, agencies, businesses, non-profit organizations, schools, and citizens about the importance of waste reduction, resource conservation, reuse, and recycling. She is a recipient of South Carolina's Environmental Awareness Award, an honor established by South Carolina's General Assembly to recognize outstanding contributions to the protection, conservation, and improvement of the state’s natural resources. Hiller currently serves as a board member and central section director for the Environmental Education Association of South Carolina.