Aim High Headlands Environmental Home (AH-HEH) Program

Part service learning, part leadership retreat, and part ecology education, Aim High's vibrant and innovative week-long environmental education program is a capstone experience for Aim High's graduating 9th graders.

The mission of the Headlands Environmental Home is to provide Aim High students with hands-on experiences that promote an understanding of and respect for the environment and aid in personal growth, interpersonal understanding and, ultimately, a stewardship ethic to carry into all areas of life.

As part of Aim High's 5-week summer program, 9th grade students from each site dedicate one week to learning what it means to be stewards of the park. Under the guidance of the GGNRA's Habitat Restoration Team, students undertake restoration projects including trail maintenance, removal of invasive plants and monitoring and propagation of native species, providing more than 1,500 volunteer hours to the park annually. Students also camp overnight, hike, visit the beach, take solos (periods of quiet reflection), journal, speak and listen to the group at Council, work in small teams, and learn about the ecology and the history of the region from park experts and naturalists.

In the winter months, small groups of students from select SFUSD middle schools continue to practice stewardship and environmental studies in the Tennessee Valley on a weekly basis.

In 2008, Aim High built a yurt at the Environmental Home site that serves as an ecology classroom, housing small group work and gear and serving as an example of sustainable architecture.

Also in 2008, Aim High began to expand the AH-HEH program to serve students from our East and South Bay programs at sites in Huddart Park, Redwood Regional Park, Sausal Creek and the Palo Alto Baylands. Over the next several years, Aim High will continue to build these local AH-HEH sites and strengthen partnerships with local park services and supporters, providing hundreds of South and East Bay youth with environmental and stewardship education and access to local wilderness areas.

The Aim High Headlands Environmental Home program is a partnership among Aim High, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), the National Parks Conservancy, East Bay Regional Parks, and San Mateo County Parks.

For more information on the AH-HEH program, please contact Richard Lautze at rlautze@urbanschool.org, or download the Headlands fact sheet.