Samohi’s Team Marine, an environmental activism group dedicated to rising up against climate crises, were instrumental in shaping Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) policy in 2023-24. In the fall, the group was able to persuade the SMMUSD Board of Education to approve of a districtwide Climate Literacy Resolution, followed by pushing a switch to 100% clean renewable energy in the district across the finish line in the spring.
Under the direction of Life and Environmental Sciences Instructor Benjamin Kay, Team Marine’s accomplishments wouldn’t have made such an impact without senior leadership, including the smart and tenacious trio of Maya Williams, Emery Cunningham and Willa Ross.
“In 18 years, we’ve had maybe a smaller handful of teams that have really moved policies and kind of helped change culture, and I’d say that this is one of those dream teams that are leaving a legacy [and] indelible impression,” Kay said of his 2023-24 team.
Team Marine’s Climate Literacy Resolution was approved by the board on November 2, 2023, a statement asking for the district to support “age-appropriate discussions” regarding climate topics in elementary schools, along with enhancing curriculum in secondary schools to go more in-depth on climate issues across content areas and beyond the science classrooms.
The resolution asks teachers across the district to commit at least one lesson per semester on a climate topic through either a social, economic, political or science lens. The document is an extension of a district sustainability plan passed in March of 2019, another accomplishment tied to Team Marine.
“I’m super passionate about the advocacy that we do, and I think it is so crucial to start with the younger generations that are gonna have this planet long after we’re gone, and so it was really important to me to help support this getting through … I think just seeing that kind of unity in the community was really, really beautiful,” Ross said.
The resolution idea has been around for a few years now, with Cunningham stating this year’s Team Marine drafted a resolution under the guise of “what should students learn and know about climate change in order to deal with it.” Before heading to the board, the senior leaders had to get various stakeholder committees on their side, something Williams was “glad” to go through in order to know “exactly” what they wanted a resolution to be districtwide.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done in terms of implementation and training teachers and making sure that students are actually benefiting from [the lessons], but I think that once it is fully implemented, it’s going to make a big difference, and I’m excited to see how that impacts sustainability in Santa Monica,” Williams added.
Later in the year, on May 1, the district hosted a “Plugging In” ceremony at Samohi to commemorate a switch to renewable energy sourcing, a feat completed with strong backing from the activist group. Williams initially came to the SMMUSD board in early 2023 with a petition of over 800 signatures from students and community members calling for a switch back to renewable sources, after the district previously ran on 100% green power through the Clean Power Alliance (CPA) from March 2019 to March 2020.
Now partnering with CPA to run on 100% renewable energy once more, the Samohi ceremony featured speeches from Williams and Cunningham, as well as commendations from Santa Monica City Council for the environmental specialists. Ross stated that her first time speaking in front of the SMMUSD board was during the renewable push, feeling intimidated at first but was supported by Williams throughout the endeavor.
Together, Team Marine worked with stakeholders like SMMUSD Sustainability Manager Austin Toyama and CPA officials to craft a plan accepted by the board.
“To have the celebration was just so awesome, because you got to see even more people who were involved in the culmination of all of this hard work that went back years, and it was just really nice to be able to celebrate something that went really well this year,” Ross said.
Williams noted that the community support made the switch an “organic process,” a process that could be a spark for other educational institutions.
“This is a model, and if we could just replicate what these students have done and pushed for … [in] other school districts, could you imagine the power and the effect in reducing carbon footprint? … my hope is that eventually other school districts will see what Santa Monica has done,” Kay said.
The senior trio will each be moving onto higher education, with Ross attending Scripps College in Claremont, Williams heading to UC Berkeley and Cunningham attending the Ivy League’s Yale University.
“It feels good to come away from it all, [it’s] mostly, in the sense, complete, we’ve accomplished a lot and done a lot of the things [we] had to do … I’m most proud [to] find a lot of collaboration inside Team Marine,” Cunningham said.
thomas@smdp.com
