Benjamin Kay Email & Phone Number

Benjamin Kay, life and environmental science teacher at Santa Monica High School and Adjunct Associate Professor at Santa Monica College, has spent 18 years creating an immersive sustainability experience for his students.  His lessons routinely call attention to the damaging effects of humans on ecosystem and human health, while engaging youth in creating real-world changes at the school, district, city, and state levels.  Rigorous curricula integrate project-based and inquiry methods, outdoor education, expert guest speakers, field trips, and frequent community learning opportunities.  Kay also co-founded Team Marine (www.teammarine.org) with his students in 2006, an environmental science and teen activist group that spearheads diverse research, service learning, advocacy, and educational outreach initiatives.  Kay has mentored numerous STEAM projects and campaigns addressing plastic pollution, climate change, and environmental injustice issues.  His students helped SMMUSD adopt a sustainability plan, opt-up to 100% renewable energy use, and write and implement a climate literacy resolution. They have also successfully advocated for city and state bans on various single-use plastics, converted a gas car into a battery electric vehicle, built human-operated solar boats, showcased elaborate eco-artwork, and monitored ocean water quality, MPAs, and hydroponic and aquaponic gardens. Through such involvements, Kay’s students hone their higher-order thinking and communication skills, bolster their academic resumes with scholarships and awards, gain technical training for jobs in the blue and green economies, and become informed and empowered leaders in their community. Kay serves on the Clean Beaches Committee for the City of Santa Monica, SMMUSD Sustainability Steering Committee, and Advisory Board for Climate Action Santa Monica. -Twenty years - educator and researcher in life and environmental sciences (secondary and tertiary). -Fifteen years - community outreach, civic engagement initiatives and leadership, strategic planning, advisory roles, and public speaking in environmental management and sustainability education. -Eighteen years - curriculum development & scope and sequence, service learning, project-based learning, experiential learning, outdoor education, science -Eighteen years - Co-founder and Faculty Advisor of Team Marine (environmental science and teen activist group)-Variety of academic, research, and teaching awards, grants, and honors.

Listed skills include Environmental Education, Environmental Science, Research, Marine Biology, and 43 others.