Students present GeoQuest tour, school‑district sustainability policy and new junior park ranger program

Students from local high schools presented three sustainability initiatives to the Issaquah Environmental Board: a GeoQuest geocaching tour, student‑led sustainability efforts at Gibson High School (including transit outreach), and the launch of a junior park ranger booklet and program.

Why it matters: The student projects connect civic engagement, school curricula and city sustainability goals. The school‑district sustainability policy introduces an annual monitoring requirement the students said will increase accountability for district sustainability actions.

What students presented

- GeoQuest geocaching tour: Student presenters (Bridal Leslie and Eva Magnuson) described a GeoQuest that places geocache sites around Issaquah with sustainability‑themed content. "Geocaching is kind of like treasure hunting," Eva said. The students reported about 600 people have visited at least one site, an initial run of 100 GeoQuest geocoins sold out and organizers reordered, and staff plan to run the tour this year and into next year while evaluating improvements.

- School district sustainability policy: Students from Gibson (Zoe and Matthew) described advocacy that helped bring support letters from Issaquah and nearby cities to the district and contributed to the adoption of an operational policy. "This is operational expectation 17, sustainability," Matthew told the board; students said the policy includes a built‑in annual monitoring and reporting function to the superintendent and school board.

- Student outreach and transit work: Gibson students distributed ORCA transit cards to encourage bus use (the group received 200 ORCA cards, distributed about 80 at events, and registered 28 cards at a lunch distribution), ran a "turn off the lights" school event to demonstrate energy savings, piloted parking‑permit incentives for carpools and collected commute counts to track mode shift.

- Junior Park Ranger program: Student presenter Camina reported the junior park ranger booklet and stamping program has launched with community partners including the Salmon Hatchery, Issaquah Trails Club, Trout Unlimited and the Issaquah History Museum. Printed prototypes cost about $600 for 25 copies; students are seeking lower‑cost printing options or grants for larger print runs and suggested print‑on‑demand, sponsor partnerships and library distribution as options.

Board feedback and next steps

Board members congratulated the students and suggested outreach to the school district for field‑trip integration, to local businesses for sponsorship of printing costs, and to the library system for summer distribution of junior park ranger booklets. Staff confirmed the GeoQuest QR code and content are hosted on the city website and encouraged expanded promotion in the coming year.

Ending

Board members praised student leadership and asked staff to help circulate final junior park ranger materials and the students' school‑district policy language once published.