One thing I’ve come to appreciate is the power of a single experience. ESSYI is a two-week program that transforms the lives of our students. They leave as different people. They see themselves differently. They see the world differently. They become empowered in terms of their day-to-day lives, their academic goals, and what they can imagine as potential careers.
The Environmental Studies Summer Youth Institute (ESSYI) is a two-week, college-level interdisciplinary summer program for talented high-school students entering their junior and senior years. ESSYI introduces students to environmental issues and interdisciplinary techniques for addressing environmental problems. Students make new intellectual and emotional connections as they explore current environmental crises through scientific, social, economic, philosophical, ethical, and political perspectives. This program is based on a one credit (4 semester hour) course that serves as an introduction to environmental studies.
I have been the Executive Director of ESSYI since 2006.