The Environmental Awareness Academy, Inc. seeks to empower youth around the world to become more resilient and self-sufficient through environmental education. The Environmental Awareness Academy (EAA) was founded by National Geographic Explorer and environmental engineer, Linda P. Freeman, science educator and humanitarian, Frederick Hubbard, and entrepreneur and youth development expert, Rhonda Smith. Together, they decided to embark on an ambitious quest to develop a STEAM-based youth development program with the goal of reaching under-served, under-resourced youth around the world. EAA provides intensive, hands-on, outdoor science education, alongside classroom courses, with the goal of creating pathways to secondary education, college education, entrepreneurship, and economic stability for under-served, under-resourced youth. In January 2021, EAA was approved by Miami Dade County Public Schools to work with students and teachers at Norland Middle School in Miami Gardens, Florida. EAA intends to expand its work in Miami-Dade County, Florida to San Juan de Flores, Honduras through implementation of an innovative project entitled “From Hive to Table.” The target audience in Honduras is under-resourced youth, male and female, ages 14 through 21 years old, at-risk for migration to the United States, living in the region of San Juan de Flores, Francisco Morázon, Honduras.
This proposed project will
Educate under-served, under-resourced youth residing in San Juan de Flores, Francisco Morazán, Honduras in the environmental sciences and horticultural sciences required to restore indigenous plants required for honey bees to thrive in San Juan de Flores.
Train them in horticulture and beekeeping.
Provide the opportunity for them to maintain honey bee hives with the purpose of harvesting honey to sell in bulk.
Provide them with financial literacy education to become entrepreneurs.
