These Park County students are changing the future — Give a Hoot!
At PCEC, we're deeply committed to protecting Park County's land, water, wildlife, and communities for generations to come. But what truly inspires us is the incredible work we're doing with future generations. Young people are stepping up in powerful ways, and we're here to support them.
That’s the heart of PCEC's Conservation Leadership program—an inclusive, community-driven effort that helps students grow into confident, civically engaged leaders through real-world experience, advocacy, and connection.
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Park High School Green Initiative and the 2025 Youth Climate Summit
PCEC proudly supports the Park High Green Initiative, a weekly, youth-led club of up to 20 students who are emerging as powerful voices in climate advocacy—both statewide and nationally.
Green Initiative students will host the Youth Climate Summit in Livingston this fall, welcoming over 50 high school students from across Montana.
Modeled after our highly successful 2023 event, this summit will feature hands-on workshops and sessions with leading scientists, advocates, and storytellers. It offers youth a vital chance to build skills in advocacy, civic engagement, and community organizing, empowering them to become even more effective agents of change.
Read more about the Green Initiative in the High Country News
Green Initiative Member and Park High graduate Remy Sexton speaking at the 2023 Youth Climate Summit. Remy’s earned the Montana Youth Leadership Forum Award in 2024.
Local students are emerging as powerful voices in the climate movement
Green Initiative students are leading real change across local, statewide, and even national platforms. Some have courageously stepped forward as plaintiffs in landmark climate lawsuits like Held v. Montana and Lighthiser v. Trump, fighting to uphold their rights to a clean and healthful environment.
Others have made tangible progress towards mitigating climate change, with the installation of a 50kW rooftop solar array at Park High, reducing waste through recycling and composting programs, planting community trees, or securing funding for an electric school bus and a charging station. The Park High solar array now offsets 12% of the school's electricity use, saving the district over $35,000 to date.
With the support and mentorship of the beloved science teacher Alecia Jongeward (Ms. J), Green Initiative students are making a name for themselves. They’ve MC’ed Montana’s Climate Advocacy Day, served as the only youth representative on Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) advisory committee, and been featured on national media stories and podcasts.
This fall, they will represent Montana at the Mountain Towns 2030 Summit, a gathering of community leaders committed to accelerating climate action in mountain and rural communities throughout the US. This and so, so, much more.
Join the Park High Green Initiative Wednesday 10 AM at the PCEC office for a virtual watch party at the PCEC office. Eva and other plaintiffs from Lighthiser v. Trump will be speaking at this event in Washington D.C.
Experiential Learning on the Land
PCEC's conservation leadership education also happens beyond the walls of courtrooms and conferences to our wild backyard. Under the leadership of Bethany Allen, our Wild Habitat Director and Staff Ecologist, our Conservation Leadership program has provided ecosystem education to over 300 local students, offering hands-on learning like plant identification, weed removal and native seed planting with 3rd and 4th graders.
We have also engaged with visiting high school students and teachers from Ecology Project International in scientific monitoring projects. With future funding and investment, we hope to provide more of these hands-on education opportunities, so that kids growing up in Park County are more connected and have a deeper relationship to this incredible ecosystem we get to call home.
Barbara Hays Fellowship
In 2022, we expanded our leadership work to include young conservation professionals with the launch of the Barbara Hays Fellowship, made possible by board member John Heidke in loving memory of his late wife, Barbara—a dedicated PCEC volunteer and supporter.
The Hays Fellowship is a one-year, interdisciplinary, fellowship program that focuses on community service and leadership development. The fellowship helps provide capacity to address our most complex problems, while receiving technical assistance and support from PCEC staff.
Our Current Hays Fellow is Park County local, Rhiana Peck. Rhiana brings valuable field experience in the northern Yellowstone region to her role supporting our Healthy Ecosystems Program area, with a particular focus on wildlife advocacy. She will be working with us to advocate for reasonable and sound wildlife management backed by science. She will also gain hands-on experience with a variety of PCEC tasks, like helping us put together our annual report, organizing events and coordinating the important work with area partners.
Your Support Makes a Difference!
What makes all of this remarkable is that much of this impact is facilitated by Ms. J in a part-time role! With stronger support and investment, we hope to be able to hire a dedicated role to support youth in Park County. This will allow us to expand this vital work to more students across the county as we continue to develop the next generation of civically engaged change-makers and leaders who will shape our future.
Your support during our Give a Hoot campaign allows us to continue investing in the next generation of leaders for our environment and a livable climate.
Do you Give a Hoot about developing the next generation of leaders in Park County? Click here to donate!