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What is the Fairchild Challenge?
What are options?
What makes this program unique?
What is the goal?
What are the program benefits?
What is the Fairchild Challenge?
The Fairchild Challenge is a multi-disciplinary, environmental education outreach program designed to give secondary school students an opportunity to shine. By appealing to their innate sense of curiosity and creativity about the world around them, the Challenge invites students to learn, to investigate the thorniest of environmental issues, to devise imaginative and effective responses to these issues and to take action – at any level – to address them.
Okay, but what does that mean?
The Fairchild Challenge is an annual, environmental, education program that offers multi-disciplinary options for students to complete and submit for points towards their school.
What are options?
Options are projects with given guidelines for completion, each worth a given amount of points possible to be earned. They offer a variety of content areas and formats that address a diversity of learning styles, levels, interests, and abilities. These options can include: art pieces, creative writing, research projects, brochure creation, website design, job shadowing, garden design and creation, debates, and much more!
What makes this program unique?
The Fairchild Challenge is unique in that it fosters competition in a healthy manner. Activities begin at the school, and then the best student entries are sent to Cherry Lake Tree Farm to compete against other outstanding student entries from other schools. Options are judged by a panel of community members with knowledge in the content area.
What is the goal?
…Besides the joy of learning about the environment? The goal of this program is for schools to reach the annual point’s goal set by Cherry Lake Tree Farm. At the end of the school year, all schools surpassing this annual goal are honored with the prestigious Fairchild Challenge Award. Additional prizes and honors are awarded to outstanding students, teachers, and schools. The top-ranking school receives funds to be used towards their environmental program.
What are the program benefits?
Community:
- Brings education back into the community
- Provides workforce ready students
- Increased sense of connection and cohesiveness
- Provides volunteer opportunities
- Opportunities to support teachers and future leaders of America
Teachers:
- Sunshine State Standards already organized through learning-centered, community based options
- Quicker lesson plan creation
- Support system provided by program and community
- Increased availability of educational resources
- Varied pedagogical strategies to cover new and existing curricula in ways more meaningful to students
- Opportunities to earn awards and recognition (including money towards school programs)
- Contact with educators and peers within their field
Students:
- Improved environmental awareness, scholarship, and stewardship
- Increased civic mindedness and sense of responsibility
- Stronger interest in environmental science, both personally and as a career option
- Improved critical thinking skills
- Greater proficiency in use of technology
- Enhanced opportunity to develop and enhance leadership skills
- Experience with collaborative learning and teamwork
- Opportunity to network within the region
- Opportunities to earn awards and prizes