Our unique brand of conservation education encourages students to become ambassadors of their rich environment.
We also give opportunities to friends around the world to help educate these malleable young minds, while improving the infrastructure of their schools.
The four mainstays of the education program are scholarship, conservation education, internship and resource support in schools within elephant rangelands. With education officers in the field and at base, we aim to weave these into a seamless conveyor belt. First, our conservation education program captivates the imagination of children, turning them from little people who are frightened of elephants into young hearts ready to fight for their heritage, homeland and elephants. Our program targets the impressionable minds of primary school children, exciting them about elephants and their environment through films, games and school trips.
Next, we select the brightest and least financially able out of these and offer them Elephant Scholarships. As the communities struggle to take their children into high school and college which require up to $6000 and more, STE steps in to carry the load, and offer the communities an opportunity to advance through the progression of their children.
As they sit in their classrooms, one of the simplest impediments to their growth is the lack of infrastructure. Inadequate desks, books, dilapidated classrooms or dormitories may be the difference between a fatigued or crippled spirit and a mind willing to absorb knowledge. Through the generous giving of our donors, STE channels funds to help as many schools as possible to make this transition.
Finally, as our brave high school graduates step out into the world, we endeavour to offer them one last push to face the future. Our post-high school internship program is designed to give scholars transferable skills. They learn basic statistics and data entry on their internship in the research camp as they help us study elephants, after which they learn to plan lessons and teach at local schools, passing on their knowledge to students not unlike themselves.
With much needed help from individual donors and foundations, STE continues to advance young people who are working towards preserving their rich heritage, empowering the communities they come from.
If you would like to be part of this mission, email [email protected].
