ENVIRONMENTAL ACADEMY RESEARCH TEAM AT HIGHLAND (EARTH)
This academy is located at Highland High School in Pocatello. It is a four-year environmental-based program open to all students within School District #25. Course work emphasizes environmental issues relating to air, soil, water and various other ecological concepts.
The Academy focuses on three main areas:
- Environmental Science Course Work
- Environmental Related Work Experience
- Professional Skills Training
Professional Skills Training includes:
→ Safety Training
→ Research Ethics
→ Professional Behavior
→ Technical Writing
→ Digital Photography
→ Spreadsheets
→ Databases
→ GIS/GPS
→ Computer-Based Lab Programs
The J. R. Simplot Company accepts interns from the academy every year. The students either work in the Pocatello, Idaho Don Plant in a number of different departments or with the Corporate Environmental and Regulatory Affairs Department located near the plant.
Within the plant, the students are placed with employees working in the areas of air, waste, water, laboratory practices, or computer engineering. Our goal at Simplot is to enhance what the students are learning in the classroom with real life work experience. The students come out to the work site one or two times each week to work with their mentor. The projects they are involved in are projects the mentors are normally assigned. We want them to come away from this experience having an idea of the different careers available in the environmental field and the number of environmental issues an industry contends with on a routine basis.
Besides working with their mentors during the school year, the students also take a tour of the Smoky Canyon Phosphate Mine near Afton, Wyoming, participate in an Environmental Conference in Boise, Idaho, and give a presentation at the end of the year.
