Overview:

The Sierra Student Coalition leads nationally renowned, award-winning, youth-run training programs. The SSC's training program is one of the most comprehensive grassroots organizing and leadership skills training programs for high school and college students. We offer week-long, in-person trainings during the summer (Sprogs). We also offer phone trainings during the school year semester on a by-request basis and integrate skills trainings into regional and state summits and conferences. The SSC will also be leading a number of skills trainings at Power Shift '09.

Why have Trainings?

Organizing is a skill just like any other. And like any other skill, it can be taught. The SSC’s Trainings Department serves that purpose—to provide students with an education in organizing, which includes everything from lobbying to campaign planning to recruiting members for your campus or high school group. Our trainings truly set the SSC apart from other student groups and our trainers have experience with materials that incorporate more than 100 years’ worth of the Sierra Club’s accumulated organizing expertise.

Summer Environmental Leadership Training Programs (Sprog)

The SSC's week-long summer training programs are nationally recognized and feature some of the country's top student environmental leaders. They offer a perfect opportunity to get the grassroots organizing and leadership skills you need to organize and rise to the growing climate challenge. You'll also meet amazing student activists and have a great time. Check out locations and dates for this summer, find out more information, and register online.

Some of the skills that you'll learn over the course of the week include:

• Campaign Organizing: Strategic Campaign Planning, Event Planning, Meeting with Administrators & Lobbying, Tactics and Strategy
• Organizational Development: Recruitment, Leadership Development, Delegation & Task Design, Building a Leadership Team, Fundraising, Starting a Group, Personal Planning & Time Management
• Communications Skills: Working with the Media, Messaging and Framing, Facilitation and Running Effective Meetings, Coalition Building, Entering a Community
• Frontiers of Environmentalism: Issue presentations on topics ranging from Campus Climate Challenge, Cool Cities, Environmental Justice, Bio-Fuels, Sustainable Agriculture, etc. These vary from program to program and may be presented by guest speakers or trainers at the program.
• Meet and Network with fellow students in a beautiful setting.

Phone Trainings!

The SSC Trainings Committee is offering phone trainings on a by-request basis on a variety of skill topics to support students running the Campus Climate Challenge (whether on a college campus, at your high school or in your community). Whether you are an SSC member of work with another coalition member of the Energy Action Coalition, you're welcome to join these calls.

Why phone trainings?

Sometimes it's hard to find the time to attend a conference during the school year to get training, and we don't have enough people to send to all of your schools, so phone trainings are a good alternative way of sharing skills and experiences. We strongly encourage you to think about this as a leaderships development opportunity--get a group of people from your school to join the call together, have dinner before hand, stick around afterwards to discuss the call and how you want to apply the skills, etc. This is your opportunity for you as well as members of your group to get trained on a variety of skills to increase your effectiveness on campus with the Campus Climate Challenge. These calls are now led by experienced student trainers--learn from your peers!

Click here for more details and to request a phone training.

Trainings Committee!

The SSC's Trainings Committee is student-led; they plan and implement training programs, designs curriculum and materials, and run programs to train trainers and ensure the quality of our overall training programs. The Trainings Committee is divided up into three Sub-committees:

1. Logistics--selecting and reserving Sprog sites, recruiting directors and trainers, planning and implementing the Sprog Director's Retreat (January 18-20, 2008), and Training for Trainers (May 23-26, 2008), and managing the trainings budget.
   
2. Curriculum--writing and re-designing curriculum. Currently in the process of an entire curriculum revision, adding a day to Sprogs, incorporating content from the Sierra Club's Leadership Development Project (LDP) into our curriculum, and designing a more comprehensive simulation.
   
3. Alternative Training Delivery--coordinating phone trainings, developing ideas for new delivery models, etc.

We typically accept applications for Trainings Committee at the end of the Spring Semester for the coming school year. However, we are currently recruiting new members on a rolling basis for the Alternative Training Delivery Sub-Committee. Apply NOW! Send completed application to trainings [at] ssc.org