Program coordinator, Sal Hernadez, leads education in Prairie Ecological Conservation Nursery Program at WCCW. Photo by SPP Staff.

Environmental
Education

Education is integral to SPP’s programs. SPP-Evergreen aims to make the most of both formal and informal education opportunities and to offer new knowledge and new practice to incarcerated students, staff, and partners. While our goal is to provide education in every program, education and training in conservation and environmental education programs (described here) are SPP-Evergreen’s central focus.

A program participant checks out a live snake during an SPP workshop at X. Photo by SPP Staff.

Access to College Credit

SPP is proud to award college credit for almost all SPP environmental education and conservation programs to incarcerated students during incarceration. students during incarceration. Using Evergreen’s Prior Learning from Experience model, SPP has awarded 1,326 college credits to 237 students since 2024. College credit is currently available for students for 6 SPP programs. SPP covers the student fee associated with the credit and does not pass any fees on to the student.

 

The education offerings described below focus primarily on education. For classes focused on ecological conservation, please see here.

Program Highlights

Foundations in
Gardening

Foundations in Gardening is a 4-credit course that provides the academic fundamentals of small-scale food production, as well as the planning, critical thinking, and observation skills necessary to grow food and beneficial flowering plants. Topics include plant cultivation, healthy soils, garden placement, beneficial insects, and pest management.

Benjamin Asaeli is a student in the first class to pilot the Gardening Course, launched in August 2020. Photo by Marisa Pushee.

Foundations in
Composting

Foundations in Composting is a 2-credit course that builds on previous work in Washington State prisons and aims to provide foundational knowledge of composting science, techniques, and applications. The course provides education and training for small- to large-scale composting programs. The Foundations in Composting course is developed for the classroom or similar teaching and learning spaces with a culminating project and opportunities for hands-on learning.

Gardeners at Cedar Creek Corrections Center load compost into a wheelbarrow. Photo by Erica Turnbull.

Environmental
Workshops

In the summer of 2024, SPP started reintroducing workshops in Washington State Prisons after a several year pause due to COVID-19. Both staff and incarcerated students have enthusiastically expressed their support and interest in this program’s return. So far, workshops offered in 2024 and 2025 have built on themes that combine science, nature, culture, and/or art.

Program participants check out the live octopus at a workshop at WCCW. Photo by SPP Staff.

Roots of Success
(2013-2023)

Roots of Success (“Roots”) is an environmental studies curriculum that covers vital environmental topics and challenges students to think critically and innovate community-based solutions. During its ten-year period as a staple of sustainability programming in Washington prisons, Roots students were equipped with job readiness.

A class of Roots of Success graduates and their instructor pose during a graduation ceremony at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center. Photo by Ricky Osborne.