FOR YOUTH IN GRADES 9-12
The Youth Climate Leaders Academy is designed to support VT & NH youth in grades 9-12 in planning and implementing projects that make a difference on climate change.
The 2026 kick-off retreat will be held in the fall of 2026.
If you are in high school and want to make a difference on climate change and are looking to collaborate and grow the skills needed to make it happen, we look forward to having you be a part of the Youth Climate Leaders Academy.
- Build a team: Gather a group (2 or more) of like-minded folks. Then decide what climate issue you want to address in your school, community, state. Brainstorm some possible solutions…then decide on 1-2 ideas you think are impactful AND you are excited about. Contact [email protected] for resources and exercises to help you pick a project.
- Sign up and attend the YCLA retreat: see information about the retreat in the next section.
- Project Implementation: As you leave the Kick-Off retreat inspired (we KNOW you will), your Project Advisor is there to support you and your team all along the way. We expect you will have monthly check-ins with your project advisor, a mid-year report in March, and a final meeting at the end of the school year.
Small Grants are available through VEEP/NHEEP to support your action projects. Apply now!
Info for teachers: The Youth Climate Leaders Academy is designed to flexibly support students with any climate-related goals reflected in their Personalized Learning Plans or service learning requirements, as well as serving to develop the transferable skills identified as graduation requirements. We work with any personalized and individualized learning credit opportunities available to your students, if they choose to take that route with their project work.
Dates: December 5-6, 2025
Times: 9:00am December 5 – 3:oopm December 6.
Location: Hulbert Outdoor Center, Fairlee, VT.
Lodging and meals are provided!
The Kick Off Retreat is a two day, youth-led event for teams from all over VT/NH to workshop their initial project ideas (with the support of peers, professional consultants and project advisors), into an actionable goal with a plan and time for implementation. Between the focused work time are applicable skills workshops, led by a variety of professionals and youth, designed to help you learn and grow professional skills to make your project planning and implementation more successful. There is also team-building, getting to know other youth who are as passionate about this work as you are, good food, relaxing atmosphere…and time to chill and have fun. For more information about retreat details, contact [email protected].
Chaperones are required for any student under age 18 staying overnight. Team sizes are limited to 5 students, although we will offer a waitlist.
Cost: We ask for up to $50 from those that are able to contribute to their registration. To run this dynamic 2-day event and continue support for teams throughout the year, it costs over $250 per student. We are continually looking for grants and supporters to fund this program. Please contribute to the costs of your participation as you are able, or ask your school to help offset costs. Click here to contribute toward your registration.
Example of past skills workshops
Parent permission forms (every student who attends the retreat will need to complete and return these forms.)
Illness policy: We want to host a joyful, effective and healthy YCLA retreat. If you are sick, stay home! If you are feeling poorly or in any way symptomatic (sneezing, coughing, sore throat, fever, etc.) please stay home and rest up. Your teammates can fill you in, and we will be glad to share resources from the retreat with anyone who was unable to come. If you had a positive Covid test prior to the retreat, you must be asymptomatic and more than 5 days since the positive test to attend. We recommend testing again immediately before you come to the retreat to ensure you don’t infect others. We will have masks and sanitizer on hand, but we will be in enclosed spaces working, eating and sleeping in close proximity with others, so we need everyone to take this seriously.
Now is a great time to get together with your team and think about what climate project you want to focus on for this year. Your team will need to come to the YCLA retreat with a ‘seedling’ idea to work on.
- We will use these project ideas to introduce teams at the beginning of the Retreat and to match you with consultants who can help with your project.
- If you need help deciding what to do, contact us! We’ve created some activities to help your team with this process, and we are also happy to meet with you and help. Check out this document for details on how to run the activities with your team.
- Check out these slides for info graphics about climate change causes and solutions.
- Consider picking projects with big impact that are relevant to your school / community. The three biggest sources of carbon pollution in our region are transportation, electricity, and heating buildings, so these are especially good areas to focus on.
- For some project examples, see our Energy Action Projects Playbook.
For clarity on what makes something an action project, check out this page.
