Brío College Preparatory High School
Los Angeles, CA
April Johnson is an environmental science teacher at Brío College Preparatory High School who has demonstrably instilled values of sustainability into her curriculum. Centered in downtown LA, Brío College Preparatory High School exists away from the densely packed nature characteristic of non-urban areas. However, despite the distance from local green space, Johnson has capitalized on the importance of biodiversity and environmental stewardship in her teaching.
Students indicated that their relationship to the environment is highly important and emphasized the need to limit plastic use in order to protect ecosystem functioning. Air quality and greenery are also central components to their view on the specific ability of trees to promote sustainability goals. Sustainability is especially pertinent to how Johnshon and her students view the use of our Environmental Equity Fund as they are hoping extra trees will be helpful to “replenish” and “help the local environment.”
Johnson stated that outreach and fundraising has been “difficult” for their event. Johnson believes our fund will lower the barriers for families to get involved and bring the type of sustainability engagement that is essential to the students’ view on equity and access. Brío College Prep’s students clearly have a deep interest in the environment and are taking the initiative to counteract the effects of climate change through our tree planting event.
Students at Brío College Preparatory High School want to offset paper usage and help the school “go green” through an event with Tree-Plenish; if you are interested in supporting their efforts, please check out the event webpage here.