Acterra Student Ambassador Program at Acterra

Acterra’s Student Ambassadors Program (ASAP)

Empowering high-school and college-aged youth to take action on local environmental issues

Applications are now open for the Summer 2025 cohort of Acterra’s Student Ambassador Program (ASAP).

This program provides high school students with the opportunity to engage in environmental education, leadership development, and hands-on climate action. Participants will work in teams to design and implement sustainability projects that address environmental challenges in their communities.

ASAP offers a structured yet flexible learning experience that combines expert-led seminars, peer collaboration, and independent project work. Throughout the program, students will attend virtual environmental education sessions featuring guest speakers from various fields, participate in bi-weekly project check-ins, and meet with their groups either remotely or in person to advance their initiatives. The program also includes two in-person gatherings at local gardens or nature preserves, culminating in a final project presentation and celebration.

The Summer 2025 cohort runs from June 9 to July 25.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the final deadline on May 28.

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CALLING ALL YOUTH

More about the ASAP Program

ASAP is designed to help high school students grow and expand mainstream understandings of environmental work. The managing team and guest speakers draw on their niche backgrounds and strengths of environmental work and organizing to help guide students to think critically and spearhead projects they care about. Students work together in groups on climate-related projects meaningful to them and their distinctive communities. Our programming has ultimately become a network of reflective and thoughtful students.

ASAP Involves:

An environmental education and community leadership development program.
10 week program in Spring, and a 6 week program in Summer.
Remote weekly environmental education seminars featuring a variety of speakers covering niche topics in the environmental space.
Remote weekly logistics meetings where students report about how their group projects are going.
Remote or in-person weekly group meetings where students work on their projects with their group.
1 in-person orientation, 1 midpoint gathering field trip to nature preserves or museum, and 1 closing ceremony for project presentations and completion awards.

ASAP Projects:

Project #1: Catalogue Zine

Summary:
Catalogue Zine is an environmentalist literary and arts magazine that focuses on making climate justice a more holistic, welcoming, and hopeful environment for change. ASAP helped give us direction towards where to start, and it's been a great journey. We started with the central idea of showing the complexity and emotional aspects of climate activism through poetry and art. Putting together our own pieces with some information on how to live a more sustainable life, we created both an online magazine issue and physical copies for ideal outreach. We hope to reach people with a more human, hopeful view of activism that drives action and community. Our first issue received a ton of support, and we were so excited to see how many people were engaged with climate activism and action! We've released one issue, "environmentalism" which you can find on our website. We are expecting a second soon this year, with many submissions from like-minded artists who have contributed to the cause of environmentalism.

Quote:
"Before ASAP, I wasn't really sure how to get involved in the climate sphere. It always seemed too complicated or too hopeless to do anything. I was so happy I found Acterra because it allowed me to be involved in real, important issues and gave me the training to actually reach people. While there are things you can learn alone, I don't believe activism is one of them. Having a guide to learn from and give advice is one of the biggest blessings I received. Thanks to ASAP, I feel confident in and capable of creating change in my world."

Website: https://zinecatalogue.wixstudio.io/cataloguezine
Instagram/Threads: @cataloguezine
YouTube: @CatalogueZineProject
BlueSky: @cataloguezine.bsky.social

Project #2: Eco Express

Summary:
During Acterra’s ASAP program, we created an advocacy project called The Eco Express that promotes public and clean transportation throughout the Bay Area.

The Eco Express first started through social media, but quickly expanded to include outreach campaigns, canvassing work, and even tabling at an upcoming EV event, partnered with Acterra. One of our landmark milestones under the ASAP program was writing and publishing a model legislation, which was presented to the fall cohort as well as our program directors.

By focusing on one aspect of climate change—transportation—we were able to narrow our perspective and work on issues that were more approachable and relevant. Through extensive research, firsthand investigations, and an outreach campaign, The Eco Express successfully launched under Acterra and continues to thrive today.

To find out more about Hopping Aboard The Eco Express, follow us on Instagram and TikTok at @TheEcoExpress or email us at EmailEcoExpress@gmail.com

Quote:
“As a youth climate activist, I am thrilled that Acterra helped me thrive and begin advocacy work on such a pressing issue. It’s so important to have the support of such a great organization behind this program, and I couldn’t be more thrilled for the opportunity.”