Natural Bridges High School/
Career Training Center
Address: 313 Swift Street,
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Phone: (831) 457-8254
Fax: (831) 459-9825
Alternative Education Schools
Impact Designs: Engineering & Sustainability through Student Service
UCSC undergraduates and high school students at Natural Bridges High School and Green Careers Center are benefiting from a new educational program that focuses on sustainable technologies, science and engineering while promoting civic engagement and entrepreneurship. Federal funds awarded to the Baskin School of Engineering through the Corporation for National and Community Service are supporting collaborative service-learning projects that offer students unique opportunities to learn about the technical, humanistic and societal aspects of renewable energy systems and make a meaningful impact on life in the community.
This initiative Impact Designs: Engineering and Sustainability through Student Service (IDEASS) is a year long course offered at UCSC through the Environmental Studies Department and in conjunction with the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship Program and the UCSC Sustainability Office. UCSC undergraduates enrolled in IDEASS select sustainability projects and work with assigned mentors, community members and students at Natural Bridges to carry project designs from conceptualization through to implementation.
Projects such as the design, permitting, and construction of rainwater catchments and greywater retrofit systems or the installation of solar tracking devices and small wind turbines coupled with sensors on the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf are but a few examples of how participating students are taking their education beyond the classroom and how IDEASS is broadening participation in science, technology, mathematics and engineering. The program is funded through 2013 and staff welcomes further suggestions for sustainability project ideas that can make a lasting impact on the students and community. For more information on this program please contact ideass@ucsc.edu or visit sustainability.ucsc.edu.
For more information, contact Carol Polhamus at (831) 457-8254, or visit the Natural Bridges program page.
