BECOME A CHANGEMAKER
Here’s how you can join the Eco-School Network to help make your elementary school greener and healthier.
Take the Eco-School Changemaker Training
This series of four online workshops offered each Fall will help you:
- Explore your own talents and passions
- Identify a pressing sustainability need at your child’s school
- Build leadership skills
- Start a sustainability project to meet your schools needs
- Connect you with a thriving community for ongoing support
NEXT Changemaker Training starts October 2025
- In-person training cohort for schools in the Portland Metro area: Monday evenings at 7 p.m. Locations TBD
- Live online trainings for other Oregon schools and those who can’t come in person: Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m.
Curious? Click below to sign up for an online Info Session to see if this program is right for you or email Sophie@ecoschoolnetwork.org.
Changemaker: A person who desires change in the world and, by gathering knowledge and resources, makes that change happen.
-Ashoka.org
Changemaker Training Info
Cost: Free! (thanks to generous donations and grants)
During this four-session online training, you will build your confidence as a changemaker. You’ll explore what’s possible for your school, getting clear about your gifts, sources of motivation, and vision for change. Next, we’ll learn to get others in your school engaged.
The training will be facilitated by Amy Higgs, Executive Director of the Eco-School Network, as well as other Network parents who will be guest presenters. You’ll even get a personal mentor (an experienced Eco-School leader) to support you with coaching and pep talks!
This training is designed for you if…
- You want to help your kids’ school become healthier and greener.
- You want to learn how to make change in your community.
- You want your child to connect with nature and learn sustainability at school.
- You want to connect with parents and teachers who are action-oriented and full of hope.
The Eco-School Network can set you up with the tools, encouragement, and support you need to make your vision a reality! You’ve got this, friend. And this network has got YOUR BACK.
What is this Network?
The Eco-School Network is a community of students, parents, teachers and school staff in Oregon working to make elementary schools greener and healthier. Over the past decade, this training has inspired hundreds of parents to lead important initiatives in their children’s schools including:
- 70 school garden and habitat projects
- 60 outdoor classrooms
- 200 waste reduction programs
- 25 walk and bike programs
- 50 student green teams
…and other innovative projects! One person starting a project often engages others and leads to big school culture change. Together, our parents are preparing a critical mass of young Oregonians to be stewards of the Earth and their community.
Until 2022 the Eco-School Network has focused primarily on schools in the Portland Metro region, and through our online training, we are now engaging schools around the state of Oregon!
Meet The Trainer:
Amy Lyons Higgs, M.S., M.Ed.
Executive Director of the Eco-School Network
As a kid, Amy spent her days on a lake in the Maine woods, where she developed a fierce connection to nature from her woodsy Dad. From her mom, a public school teacher, Amy saw the power that educators have to shape lives and futures. Amy combined her passions for education and the environment in college, where she and her now-husband, Steve, co-taught environmental education in local elementary schools.
At the University of Michigan, Amy got her Masters in Education Leadership and a Masters in Natural Resource Management and Behavior. Later, she managed an international network of environmental educators at Conservation International and engaged students in learning about biodiversity hotspots. In Portland, Amy helped start the Greater Portland Sustainability Education Network (GPSEN), and then learned organizational leadership as Vice President of LCA Community Engagement.
Ten years ago, she became an Eco-School Network parent volunteer, discovering that the Network motivated even a super busy working mom to make rewarding change. The incredible community of parent leaders kept her engaged and motivated. Now she gets to support and grow this community of parents and students every day.
Amy plans and oversees programs, raises funds, and builds relationships for the Network. She has facilitated the Eco-School Network training for many cohorts over the years. Parenting through a pandemic and climate crisis is not for the weak of heart, so Amy keeps working to refill parents’ buckets with hope, gratitude, and inspiration. After work, Amy is a sometimes-successful handy-person, a scrappy crafter, and with her husband and teen kids, a weekend chaser of water, snowflakes, and sunsets.
This training is a community effort. Other facilitators include:
- Audrey Schaab, long-time ESN facilitator and Beaverton district liaison
- Celeste Lewis, board member and volunteer coordinator and strategist
- And a cast of beloved trainee mentors
