{"id":1940,"date":"2026-07-29T19:14:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T19:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/cosee\/?p=1940"},"modified":"2026-07-29T19:15:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T19:15:01","slug":"preparing-students-early-for-green-careers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/cosee\/2026\/07\/29\/preparing-students-early-for-green-careers\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing students early for green careers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This summer, the Environmental Careers Preparedness Program (EnCAP) returned to the EERC for its third year, running three weeks from June 29 to July 17. One of CoSEE’s largest programs, EnCAP is funded by a grant from the Department of Education and is free to participants, with the purpose of introducing high school students to environmental career pathways by connecting classroom learning to real work in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EnCAP students exploring flowers and pollinators to see co-evolution of species with Dr. Amy Lambert.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the center of the program is the High School Scholars Program, a cohort of 25 students who spent three weeks learning from a rotating group of UW Bothell faculty. Rather than following one instructor through a single subject, scholars moved between disciplines, mapping invasive species one week, writing with the land the next and building a broad picture of what a career in the environment can look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As CoSEE director McGowan notes about the program design, “A lot of times when students think about environmental careers, they might think about solar panels or engineering,” she said. “But we want students to think about green careers very broadly, to include communications, education and arts, as well as GIS, ecosystem monitoring and restoration.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scholars didn’t learn alone. CoSEE’s undergraduate teaching assistants Dan Nguyen (Salmon Conservation & GIS) and Ash Putzke (Habitat Monitoring and Evaluation) supported the program throughout the summer, mentoring high school students and leading work alongside faculty. EnCAP also reached beyond students through CoSEE’s Summer Teacher Learning Institute, K\u201312 educators across Washington took part in workshops in GIS, pollinator monitoring and creative writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cross-disciplinary learning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Dr. Santiago Lopez introducing GIS to the students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Projecting usage of GIS to make land-based drawings with remote sensing tools with Dr. Santiago Lopez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Six UW Bothell faculty taught across the three weeks, each bringing a different discipline to the cohort. The breadth is deliberate. As McGowan noted, no one person could teach the full range of what students explored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n