Environmental Lecture at Edina High School

On April 25, 2025, ZIRAN’s environmental education tour made its next stop at Edina High School, where co-founders Jing and Grace delivered another engaging session—this time to 28 10th-grade students in the Chinese 3 class, taught by Teacher Wang Zhuo.

The session also featured a screening of "Unearthed", a short film created by all the students, volunteers and teachers from MinnSea Academy Summer Camp. The film elicited strong emotional responses from the students, with one student admitting he fought back tears throughout the screening. The discussion that followed emphasized that everyone has a role to play in protecting the environment.

To accommodate the students' Chinese proficiency level, the lecture was delivered primarily in English, with key environmental terms introduced in Chinese to support bilingual learning.

Students expressed genuine appreciation for ZIRAN’s visit through thoughtful questions and reflections, and many showed great interest in volunteering at the upcoming Asian Fair on May 31st.

After class, Teacher Bai arrived with her AP class students for the next session. Jing and Grace were honored to receive an invitation from Teacher Bai to return and present to two of her higher-level classes.

ZIRAN looks forward to continuing its collaboration with Edina High School’s Chinese classrooms, empowering students to take action and grow as youth leaders for a more sustainable future.

Although the class period was only 44 minutes, Jing and Grace effectively adapted their presentation to create a dynamic and impactful learning experience. Using real-world examples of climate change impacts and extreme weather events, they helped students make connections between global environmental challenges and their daily lives. Through hands-on activities with recyclable and compostable items, students explored practical actions they can take to promote sustainability and were inspired to recognize the urgent need for collective action.

To celebrate Earth Day, Teacher Wang Zhuo guided her students to create posters as part of a classroom project on conservation and sustainability. The posters reflected students’ thoughtful understanding of environmental issues and their creativity in encouraging action.