Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships Information

SWEP promotes environmental stewardship by connecting students to their community and local environment through comprehensive watershed education and service-learning. Students in the Tahoe/Truckee region understand the environment in which they live and are empowered to take action in their community to make a positive difference. Students, together with community partners and teachers, work collaboratively to address relevant environmental and social issues. SWEP fulfills our mission by collaborating with local teachers, school districts and community partners to address pertinent environmental issues. SWEP programs, operating in the Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District (TTUSD) since 1996, emphasize service learning because of the multiple benefits to both students and communities. Students benefit by participating in meaningful learning activities that are relevant to their life experience, developing higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, problem solving, and decision-making, and exploring future career pathways. Communities benefit from service learning projects because the service activities in which the students engage address a specific community problem or meet a particular community need. An additional benefit is the creation of young community members with a strong sense of civic responsibility and the skills, experience, and leadership to accomplish community good.