The Student Climate & Conservation Congress met for its sixth year this week in Shepherdstown, teaching high school students about conservation and leadership skills.
The Student Climate & Conservation Congress, or Sc3 for short, brought together 109 high school students this year from 27 states including Washington, DC. Two international students and one teacher flew-in from Assam, India for the program. Five students were from West Virginia.
The week-long event is completely run by the students and is overseen by teachers and faculty.
Taylor Grove is from Gerrardstown in Berkeley County. Last year was his first year in the program, and this year, he’s a Faculty Assistant. Grove says he’s very proud West Virginia is the host for the international program.
“Even though I’ve lived here my entire life,” Grove explained, “seeing all these people come and be so incredibly fascinated, you know, walking through the forest and the paths here at NCTC, makes me so much more, I guess, appreciative of where I come from, because you look at them and they’ve never been to West Virginia, and they see our forests, and the look on their face is what I’d imagine on my face if I was walking through India.”
The mission of Sc3 is to empower student environmental leaders with skills, knowledge, and tools to address climate change and natural resource conservation challenges. It also seeks to encourage those students to serve their schools and communities.
The Student Climate & Conservation Congress has been held at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown every year since its inception.