RiverVision Leadership Academy

The academy is a collaborative effort between the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center and St. Louis Audubon Center Project/Audubon Missouri, in partnership with Lewis and Clark Community College, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Big Muddy Adventures, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. This recently established program is an environmental leadership academy for high school students located at the confluence of the Midwest’s most iconic rivers:  the Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Illinois. 

Using the context of the community’s great river systems, the Meeting of the Great Rivers Environmental Leadership Academy (ELA) will employ participative service learning and leadership activities to introduce high school students to environmental issues and careers. As a pilot program, the academy will serve 20 high school students from the Hazelwood School District and 20 high school students associated with Lewis and Clark Community College’s high school partnership program. Students will be paid a small stipend for their full participation in the Environmental Leadership Academy.

The success of this model program will contribute to the expansion of the ELA to additional school districts and partners in the region in successive years.  

Key components of the Environmental Leadership Academy include: 

a) Equipping high school students with environmental leadership skills (systems thinking, communication skills, design, and interdisciplinary academic content including: economics, engineering, math, and science)

b) Engaging students in local environmental issues and related service projects for the purpose of increasing awareness of the issues and environmental careers

c) Building community through mentoring, team building, family involvement, and community service.