George School students Caitlin Brimmer, Andrea Lindsay, and Rex  Roskos are among the one hundred high school students across the United States who have been selected as U.S. Green Schools Fellows by the Green Schools Alliance (GSA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency’s National Conservation Training Center (NCTC). Chosen on the basis of the outstanding leadership they have demonstrated by working to make George School more environmentally sustainable, the students are invited to participate in the first-ever National Student Climate and Conservation Congress from June 28 to July 2, 2009, at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

Caitlin (a junior from Yardley, Pennsylvania), Andrea (a sophomore from Yardley, Pennsylvania), and Rex (a sophomore from Trevose, Pennsylvania) are representatives on George School’s Environmental Stewardship Steering Committee (ESSC). Made up of students, faculty, and staff, the ESSC encourages sustainability efforts on campus.

Andrea said, “As a part of the committee, I have been involved in broad efforts to make George School more environmentally sustainable, ranging from planning different activities for this past April’s Earth Month to raising awareness of our community’s energy consumption.”

At the National Student Climate and Conservation Congress, students will receive training to later develop individual action plans for their school communities as part of a new National Student Climate and Conservation Program. They will learn from distinguished speakers, including environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; Rice University history professor and CBS News commentator Douglas Brinkley; Virginia Burkett, PhD, chief scientist for global change research at the U.S. Geological Survey; New York Times environmental reporter Andrew Revkin; and Robert Watson, founder of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System and chairman, CEO, and chief scientist of the EcoTech International Group. Students at the conference will also participate in problem-solving workshops, leadership training, community-building activities, and networking.

Of the conference, Rex said, “I look forward to bringing back ideas about sustainability that are on the front lines of today’s technology and applying them in a community I respect and love.” Andrea noted that the conference will offer “an incredible array of diverse and interesting people for me to learn from, whether they are leading conservationists or other like-minded ‘green’ scholars.”

GSA and NCTC state that the conference’s purpose is “to equip the next generation of environmental leaders with the skills they will need to implement grassroots change and address the complex climate and conservation challenges of our times.”

Andrea commented, “Sustainability is important to me because it ultimately leads to the protection and preservation of the truly amazing world that we live in.” Rex stated that his sustainability efforts have been prompted “by the realization that I and everyone else have an obligation to this planet. I don’t see it as a daunting task, but more of a responsibility.”

About George School
Founded in 1893 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), George School, a rigorous coed boarding and day school for grades nine through twelve, educates students from twenty-one states, thirty-two foreign countries, and a variety of ethnic, racial, religious, and economic backgrounds. Through its commitment to diversity and the Quaker values of equality, integrity, and peacemaking, George School inspires students to be led by their own truths while respecting and appreciating opinions and beliefs different from their own. George School was one of the first schools in the United States to implement an International Baccalaureate diploma program. For information about admission, please call 215.579.6547 or visit http://www.georgeschool.org.