Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Kentucky has awarded a grant of nearly $10,000 to the Kentucky Environmental Education Council (KEEC) for the 2014-15 Professional Environmental Educator Certification course.
The Toyota grant will provide scholarships to educators who will reach a diverse group of Kentuckians underserved by current environmental education efforts.
KEEC has offered the Professional Environmental Educator Certification course since 2004, and more than 160 people have completed it. Graduates receive the designation of Certified Professional Environmental Educator.
The course is based on guidelines from the North American Association for Environmental Education which are designed to professionalize the field of environmental education (EE), by standardizing best practices.
Course graduates sign a Code of Ethics requiring them to “clearly differentiate between education and advocacy when conducting EE programs, allowing students to decide for themselves where they stand on environmental issues.”
Through KEEC, which is an agency of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has been a leader in teaching environmental education best practices. The goal of the Toyota scholarships is to ensure that those best practices are taught more widely across the Commonwealth in programs that reach Kentuckians of all backgrounds.
“We’re very pleased with Toyota’s generosity. We’re especially pleased that an environmental leader like Toyota would validate our initiative through their funding,” said Thomas O. Zawacki, secretary of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.
The course will take place over four workshops at Kentucky state parks and the Louisville Zoo from November 2014 – March 2015. Applications for course admission and scholarships are due by Oct. 1, 2014.
For more information about the course, contact Wesley Bullock at 502-564-5937.
Story provided by Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet
