Due to her dedication to implementing Next Generation Science Standards and focusing on a sustainability-driven education, Science Department Chair Winnie Litten received a leadership award presented by the Green California Schools and Community Colleges Summit on Oct. 17. 

According to the Green California Schools event, the summit “aims to combat emissions and preserve resource conservation [as climate change] only intensifies with the passage of time, in addition to mandating energy and water efficiency, clean transportation, recycling, green building, environmentally preferable purchasing and other conservation strategies.” 

Litten is also one out of many teachers and administrators in the Oak Park Unified School Districts who have taken a leadership role regarding creating a plan to integrate the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals; the 17 set conditions are addressed toward various issues facing the planet.

“I think the reason why I was put forth on the award is because I’ve been doing things with biomimicry in my classroom; [I] just had a blog post published [on the Green Schools National Network] about the ideas surrounding biomimicry,” Litten said. “In addition to that, we decided at a summit last year to make a priority in the district to talk about or sustainability goals [underneath] the umbrella of the U.N. goals.”

Aspects of sustainable education have been implemented into every unit of Litten’s AP and Honors biology classes. Her website highlights student introductory presentations based on the U.N. sustainability goals.

“Sustainability ties into every single student’s life; this is the world that they’re in, and I could say my generation and the [previous] generations didn’t have the science to make good enough decisions when setting up complexes like factories and towns, but now we do and we must put it to good use,” Litten said.

In addition to this educational perspective, Litten wants to make sure her students can identify critical problems on the planet to take further action.

“Whether it is clean drinking water, health-related issues, poverty, what’s going on in the oceans, these are not second or third world problems, it’s everyone’s problem — you cannot make good decisions if you don’t have science literacy,” Litten said.