KAEE 50th Annual Conference

YLEX Works, a career and life readiness program for high school juniors and seniors, was developed in 2025, soft-launched in January 2026, and officially launched in August 2026. This program functions in partnership with Fayette County tech school, The HILL, and centers education, exposure, and praxis. Students enrolled in this program attend weekly in-class career preparation lessons, regular field trips and job shadowing on city environmental job sites, and participate in summer internships and senior year co-ops. This session will begin with a program overview and flow into strategies for developing similar programming in your community. We will address curriculum and program development, time commitments, needed partnerships, funding, and target audiences.  

We will present an overview of the Lesson Plan -Tool Kit, with a hands on project.

This presentation charts 35 years of lessons learned from research and practice about how to assemble coalitions that support young people’s connection to nature and participation in civic action. It begins with two projects for the Kentucky Oral History Commission which indicated that connecting to local nature and places in childhood can motivate lives of committed care for the environment. This insight raises the question: How can we create effective coalitions of researchers, local governments, schools, and community organizations to ensure that young people have access to local community resources, including nearby nature, as well as a role in their conservation and enhancement? It shares practical experiences gained through the international Growing Up in Cities Program of UNESCO, the Growing Up Boulder initiative in Colorado, and an informal alliance, KINship (Kids in Nature), that works to ensure equitable access to nature for all city residents.  

Learn about Clay Hill Memorial Forest and how it relies on natural processes to filter wastewater the wild way! Located in Campbellsville, Kentucky, Clay Hill Memorial Forest is a 300-acre property owned by Campbellsville University. The site includes facilities for environmental education, scientific research, and over 5 miles of trails that are open to the public. One of the most unique aspects of the site is the constructed wetland, which supports the wastewater filtration needs of the two main buildings as well as other water needs around the site. Join the Clay Hill Memorial Forest team for a discussion of the site as a whole, this unique wetland, the programming involving it, and how the wetland is used to educate and inform visitors about water management and the value of both constructed and natural wetland ecosystems.

As Kentucky’s climate continues to change, environmental educators are increasingly challenged to adapt curriculum and program design to create learning experiences that are flexible, relevant, and responsive. This session will explore practical strategies for designing, refining, and delivering climate-smart environmental education (EE) curriculum that connects learners to real-world issues while remaining adaptable to the needs of local communities. Participants will explore ways to integrate local climate impacts, place-based learning, resilience, and creative learner engagement strategies into their programs.