The Society’s primary Education projects are:

Youth-to-Youth in Environmental Awareness and Education
The Green Road Show
The Serehd: CSP’s Newsletter
Additional Public Awareness Activities

Youth-to-Youth in Environmental Awareness and Education
The Conservation Society of Pohnpei’s (CSP) Youth-to-Youth (Y-2-Y) in Environmental Awareness and Education Program works with elementary schools throughout Pohnpei on environmental awareness projects. Each year, CSP partners with governmental and non-governmental agencies to serve on the Y-2-Y taskforce. The current taskforce is made up of The Nature Conservancy, Pohnpei Environmental Protection Agency, Pohnpei State Marine Conservation and Development, Pohnpei State Division of Forestry, USDA-NRCS, Peace Corps, Department of Health, Quarantine and Aramas Kapw.

Each school partners with an agency on the taskforce and throughout the school year representatives work with the students on marine, terrestrial, or environmental health projects such as lowland sakau nurseries, marine protected areas, mangroves, or local medicinal plant nurseries. Our goal is to have participating students present their projects to students not yet involved in the program during the year.

Every year culminates in the Y-2-Y Environmental Fair – a workshop at the end of the year for all participating students and teachers to present their projects to each other, their parents and community members.  The students use a variety of presentation styles – puppet shows, speeches, skits, dances and songs. This final event for the Y-2-Y program allows the students from each school to learn about different aspects of Pohnpei’s environment. This event is also taped for radio, as well as recorded and edited for a video presentation on the local television channel. The information that these students present is broadcast island-wide. The Y-2-Y Program works to spread environmental education beyond the classroom to the community.

The Green Road Show
“The Green Road Show” is a mobile, all-inclusive, entertaining, environmental education program which aims to reach the children of Pohnpei with information specially designed for their age, ability and interests. Also, teachers are presented with resources that can complement their work in other areas and provide them with a new concept for teaching conservation and environmental education.

Two Environmental Educators (EE) visit all the primary schools in Pohnpei (public and private) four times during the school year, covering the 4 environmental topics selected: Watershed, Mangroves, Coral Reef, and Pollution and Waste Management. The two EEs deliver the talks in a fun, visual and hands-on way, using an array of educational resources. Each student receives a Student Activity Booklet with activities related to the topic discussed during the EE’s presentations. Also, posters with information about the topics are left in each classroom to remind the students about the environmental information. We believe that it is possible to develop in these children an awareness and understanding of the environment and ecology of their home island and their responsibility towards the protection of it.

The Serehd: CSP’s Newsletter
CSP releases a newsletter every quarter to its members. This newsletter, The Serehd, contains updates on all CSP projects and activities as well as information related to CSP. CSP feels it is necessary that the people of Pohnpei learn of conservation efforts and ways to get involved. The Society tries to keep Pohnpei’s residents abreast of not only what the organization does, but also the significance of its efforts.

Additional Public Awareness Activities
The Environmental Awareness Program is always looking for more ways to involve the community in its programs. When available, the CSP education staff takes part in relevant environmental activities held on Pohnpei, such as Clean Up the World Day, Environmental Day, Culture Day, and various community organized clean-ups around the island. In many of these events, students involved in our other education programs are asked to participate.

CSP staff members, at the invitation of other institutions, also give presentations to students or groups about CSP and general environmental initiatives and issues in Pohnpei. These presentations allow the staff to speak with groups that aren’t participating in the organization’s other programs. In addition, informational articles and “The Fun Corner,” a small activity corner linked to The Green Road Show, is sent to the Kaselehlie Press, the local newspaper, as an added source to make readers more aware of CSP programs and activities. The education staff is always looking for new opportunities to reach Pohnpei’s population.