We are delighted to announce that our very own Social Studies Teacher Kathy Hagee has been accepted as a featured educator at the California Council for the Social Studies Conference to be held in March 2024. She will be presenting her paper, “Teaching Climate Justice & Equity: It is not just for science teachers,” which details her approach that fuses climate social justice issues into a non-science based curriculum.

“I got interested in this subject when I was attending The Climate Initiative (TCI) retreat for educators last summer,” explains Ms. Hagee, “where I was thrown into a community that focused on illustrating global issues of climate change by educating youth through a solutions-based approach at the local scale.” 

“I was so inspired by my week in Maine and the connections I made there,” shared Ms. Hagee. “Because of those connections, I was asked to participate in two new TCI teacher cohorts this fall: one is focused on interdisciplinary instruction on climate change, and the other is a “Train-the-Educator” cohort specifically for educator/adult ally outreach on TCI’s Climate Justice and Equity Learning Lab materials.”

The TCI model focuses on giving students ownership through the opportunity to investigate and invent tangible, local climate-solutions, and forums to best voice their ideas and concerns. This correlates closely with San Domenico's own ROSE Program, a service learning program headed by Ms. Hagee with a culminating project that our students complete during their senior year. 

“The reason why I am so committed to educating myself about climate justice and equity is to be an advocate and support to students choosing climate justice-related topics for their ROSE Projects. In addition, I hope to work more closely with SD’s Director of Sustainability Shelley Flint, and to connect more ecology (climate change) into our non-science and service learning social justice curriculum. I needed to learn more about our planet and how everything is interconnected.”

“I love the TCI approach based on hope for our planet instead of doom and gloom,” remarks Ms. Hagee. “I am very committed to doing everything I can to connect my students to the work of TCI ... and hopefully inspire a few ROSE projects along the way. TCI is an amazing organization and I am very honored to be their partner.”

We celebrate Kathy Hagee and are deeply grateful for her many contributions and profound impact in our Upper School programming.