What if your classroom was a…BiodieselRolling Media Center?
What if your campus was... all of California?
What if your teachers were… World class scientists, technology innovators, old growth forests, conservationists, rivers, visionary thinkers, mountains, legislators, farmers, oceans, fisherman, philosophers, and renewable energy experts?
What if your course of study was… to find, learn about, and document good things that are being done to fix the world’s problems and to sustain us?
And what if... after you lived and learned all of this, you became the teachers?
That is what the Finding the GoodTraveling Semester Program is all about.
Finding the Good
Is a high school/pre-college semester program
Based on the study, practice, and promotion of sustainability in the areas of shelter, transportation, energy, food, culture, and environmental conservation.
Finding the Goodis
A different way to learn
Finding the Goodis
A documentary media venture
Sustainable models are studied, lived, documented and shared using audio and video podcasts, radio broadcast and films.
A research project
Findings are used to develop curriculum for educating for sustainability.
A lecture and presentation tour
Students and faculty give presentations and how-to workshops to schools and community groups.
Community, networking, and service
We all need to know that we have a place and a purpose in our community. The Finding the Good curriculum brings students and communities together through shared projects. In service, young people experience, firsthand, what it means to make a difference in the world.
A path towards peace, justice, and sanity
Youth today need to be educated in sustainable living solutions and empowered to take leadership. If we are to solve the problems of humanity, education must also evolve.
Learning to live sustainably includes developing and nurturing a lifelong relationship with the natural world. Parents often come to us with deep concern over how much time young people today spend immersed in technology, computers, and electronic entertainment. We, on the other hand, are far more concerned with the lack of time that youth are spending in close contact with Nature. It is not a matter of Technology vs Nature. It is a matter of right relationship to both. Dedication to work in concert, rather than in conflict with natural systems, and recognizing that humans are not separate from Nature, is a place to begin.
Studying sustainability in
Culture
Each semester starts off with an immersion wilderness trek. It may be a canoe trip the length of the Sacramento River; a backpacking trip in the Sierra; or a winter trek in Baja California.
production, distribution, preparation
What do we mean by “sustainability”?
At Finding the Good, sustainability means living so that the natural systems on which we depend are kept healthy and life-giving for generations to come. Learning to live in synchronization with those systems means to live in
right relationship to every aspect of LIFE.
Studying sustainability in
Shelter
Studying sustainability in
Renewable Energy
Students and faculty travel to communities throughout California in a bio-diesel fueled bus and van to explore, study, research and document innovations in sustainability. The bus is a rolling classroom and demonstration vehicle retrofitted for energy conservation and lifestyle simplicity.
Finding the Good students gain valuable skills in journalism, reporting, community interface, investigation, public speaking, research, technology, editing, and production. They are instructed in documentary media-making, and they produce work that airs on the internet, radio, direct access television, and at public venues. Finished pieces such as DVDs are available to the students for portfolios, college applications, and resumes. Now more than ever, admissions and employers are looking for the individual who stands out -- one who has engaged different ways of learning and is ready to lead others.
Students create film and radio documentaries,
podcasts, and presentations to help educate others.
Documentary media-making
Students (left) interview Congressman Mike Thompson for a documentary on wild and scenic river designation for Cache Creek in Northern California. The film is one of three Synergia films that show at film festivals, classrooms and community venues.
Service Learning is the heart of Finding the Good.
Learning while making a difference develops a
sense of purpose
530 265-5490
Finding the Good is directed by Debra and Tom Weistar and is a program of Synergia Learning Ventures.
The Weistars have been leading transformative educational adventures for over 20 years.
Finding the Good Traveling Semester Program is designed for high school juniors and seniors and pre college
students. It is open to all public and private school students. Finding the Good will work with your sending school so you will receive credit for your semester’s work.
During non-traveling times, students and faculty can be found at the Finding the Good home base in a beautiful mixed conifer forest in the Yuba River watershed.
The first semester starts in August 2008. Space is limited to 10 students. Admission is by application and interview.
“I do not want to talk about what you understand about this world. I want to know what you will do about it. I do not want to know what you hope. I want to know what you will work for. I do not want your sympathy for the needs of humanity. I want your muscle.” - Robert Fulghum
For more information including a detailed write-up, please visit our website or contact us. We look forward to learning and adventuring with you!
