Youth Environmental Summer Camp Summary

June 5 to July 26

The Southern California Chinese-American Environmental Protection Association (SCCAEPA) successfully held its 2^nd Youth Environmental Summer Camp, in collaboration with American Educated Chinese (AEC). The camp took the form of project-based learning, with experts from SCCAEPA as coaches. This year’s camp theme was “Making California a Better Place”. Middle school and high school students in southern California formed five teams to study various topics including water recycling/reclamation, water resource management and distribution, organic waste composting, and California native plants.

With guidance from the coaches, students conducted research and designed projects on these topics. The teams had field trips to local facilities, including where they could either observe the process, or have hands-on experiences to apply the theories they learned. By working on team projects, the camp also provided a platform to explore and improve students’ leadership skill.

The teams did a final presentation on July 26, 2022 to a group of judges. The judges, who are professionals in environmental field, were really impressed by the students’ projects. Team 1 on water recycling and reclamation, lead by Ms. Iris Huang, won the gold medal award by demonstrating in-depth comprehension of water treatment processes, design of home-use conceptual water filtration system, and inclusion of each member during project work and presentation. Team 1 was then invited to present at the Asian American Engineer of Year (AAEOY) event on August 6, 2022. The audience was very impressed by how well the students grasp the water treatment processes and came up with a conceptual design within such a short period.

Special thanks to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and BDP EnviroTech for their generous support to the summer camp!