Youth for Environmental Action is a group of high school students from across Santa Cruz County who are passionate about the environment and who want to take action for the future. YEA students work together on projects that increase school sustainability, advocate with school leaders for action, and plan and lead an annual countywide Environmental Action Summit.
Get Community Service Hours
Meet people from high schools across the county
Develop leadership skills
Make a big difference for the future of the environment!
WANT TO JOIN? Submit this interest form and we will contact you with more information about meetings.
Check out these Alumni Spotlights to hear what the experience was like for past student leaders and see the program overview here for more details.
Watch our video, read our OpEd in Lookout and join this solution to climate change that also makes schools more sustainable! We are inviting students, school leaders and community partners to join us in transforming waste systems across Santa Cruz County schools. Sign up here to help!
To support youth to be part of solutions and decisions, Youth for Environment Action (YEA) hosts an annual Summit as a day-long school field trip that brings students from high schools across the county together with school district leaders and community decision makers to collaborate on positive change for the future. Students are the group that will be most impacted by climate change, yet too often our voices are left out of conversations about how to address these matters. Let's change that!
For a recap of our previous Summit, read the article below authored by Sylvi, YEA's Aptos High Student Leader
TAKE THE 2025 YEA Survey NOW! YEA created a survey to gather data directly from high school students and staff about their experiences of how sustainable schools are, how much schools connect students with environmental curriculum, and how climate change and environmental issues affect students mental and physical health. Explore the Survey Results for both 2022-23 and 2023-24 here. You can see countywide data or filter by schools and districts.
In 2021-2022, YEA leaders developed a TEMPLATE Board Resolution for Environmental Action. YEA Student Leaders met with the Santa Cruz County School Board Association to deliver this presentation and share the template resolution.
YEA Students bring youth perspectives to school board presentations, radio programs, conferences, district green teams, and education events. They also produce videos to share youth voices with school leaders, teachers and peers. See our youtube channel and follow @sccstudentleadership on Instagram to hear from us.
For more information contact: Amity Sandage, Environmental Literacy Coordinator and YEA Advisor, at asandage@santacruzcoe.org
Where are they now? Click on the link above to meet some of the student founders and early leaders of Youth for Environmental Action! Many thanks to Sydney Haddad, Oberlin College '26, for this project.