High school science teacher Lauren Williams is taking action in her community to educate students on sustainability and how to be stewards of the environment.
Lauren Williams is the chair of the science department and anatomy teacher at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, a public high school in Washington D.C. which offers a dual curriculum, encompassing both academics and pre-professional arts training. She is also the advisor of the sustainability club. This interview was conducted in the fall of 2024.
Q: What is it like working as the science department chair at a school as artistically inclined as Duke Ellington?
A: I think it took time for me to understand how science can be highlighted at our school, and how students can still be engaged and excited about science. I think the number one way that I’ve been shown by our other excellent teachers here is finding a way to relate it to their discipline and their art — showing them how important science is within their disciplines. That has really allowed students to find joy in science and find some kind of interest — outside of it being something that they have to do. For some students, outside of having an inclination for science, finding a way to connect it back to their art has been very beneficial.
Q: You are also the advisor of the sustainability club, which just started this year. Why do you think there is a need here for the sustainability club — at Duke, but also in D.C. at large?
A: I think environmentalism in general is just incredibly important. From the time youth are able to listen and read, understanding environmentalism and knowing how to be a steward of your environment is really important for students to get a good grasp on. I think driving that point home and giving them more opportunities in high school where they can be activists and see their ideas come alive and vocalize their thoughts and opinions on issues that are happening in their communities is really important.
It’s important that at this age they learn how to be advocates for causes that they’re passionate about, and I feel as though the club is a great way to highlight things that are happening in our school, in the city, and nationwide.
Q: Why is sustainability and environmentalism important to you personally? How did your passion for the environment start?
A: I come from Florida, and the environment in Florida and our ecosystems are on the forefront. We deal with a lot of things, like the changes that we have through our wet and dry seasons. That sparked my interest for environmental justice and sustainability, whether the issues boil down to pollution, or even access — to education, healthcare, and a myriad of resources. All of those things tie back into environmental justice. That sparked something in my brain to want to know more, and it led me to researching and being in the world of environmentalism, along with teaching environmental science, which I love.
It makes you open your eyes to what’s happening in the communities where you live and around where you live, and how those things are impacting your own personal life and how they could impact your family. It can tremendously impact people’s lives if you’re not aware, and I think awareness is a huge thing — knowing what’s happening in your surroundings and your environment, and how you can be a piece that can make things a little better.
Q: I noticed that you have some posters around your classroom showing ‘environmental justice heroes.’ Could you talk about a few examples you have displayed, and why you think it is important for students to know about these people?
A: I think it’s incredibly important for our students to see these people because they look like us. They look like people from all different races, creeds, colors, and walks of life. It’s not just one kind of person that can be invested in environmentalism. We don’t just see the cookie-cutter politician that’s talking about environmentalism, or not talking about environmentalism. We can see Black and Brown people that are active in their communities, that are taking a stance. Like Susana Almanza, out of Texas, who has been creating effective spaces for people of color in relation to water and access to resources for their communities. She created a gateway for the less advantaged to be able to have better opportunities for clean water.
Or Valencia Gunder, who is very active in the state of Florida, where she talks about climate gentrification, which is a whole new topic that’s being brought about in environmentalism. She talks about how communities are being overtaken with gentrification based on what’s happening in the climate where they’re located. People are being pushed out for multi-million dollar condo communities to come in, or for shopping plazas to come in and renovate the spaces. But where are these people to go? Where does it push them? So, Valencia’s spending a lot of time in South Florida. She’s running a lot of non-profit, grassroots initiatives out of Miami, and they’re catching wave around their country. Around the world, her name and her work is spreading tremendously.
Those are just a few environmental justice heroes. There are so many, even beyond the ones I have in the class. There are so many that are budding nowadays, out in communities across the country, that are really doing a lot of trailblazing work for environmental justice.
Q: What are your suggestions for how people can incorporate sustainability into their everyday lives?
A: If the desire is there, people should really think about their own lives. How do you live? What’s your transportation like? What’s your consumption like? How much are you using? What’s your digital footprint like? Just doing some of those personal assessments to see what areas of your personal life you can clean up, or a place in your life where you can make a commitment towards bettering your environmental footprint, like recycling, are very good starting points.
Small, digestible things can turn into bigger, more impactful movements over time.
Q: What do you hope to achieve with and impart on students, both in the sustainability club and in your classes?
A: I think my number one goal is trying to create more stewards of environmentalism. People that care, that want to do something about it, in any small way. A collective is what we need in order to make change. Change isn’t going to happen overnight — we’re just now starting to see it moving, but it’s going to take decades. It’s going to take the youth, it’s going to take their youth. Continuing that cycle of explaining how important it is, and asking “Do you care about our Earth? Do you care about your community? In 20, 30, 40 years from now, how can you see the world being? How are you willing to contribute now?” is incredibly important. There’s only so much we can do within our lifetime and our locus of control, but to have that want and that care for our environment, is really, really important.
Read another My Green Job Interview about someone who promotes solar energy capacity building.
