Students in the OLS Environment and Our Community course recently visited the habitat restoration area at Bellevue College. In this wooded area on the eastern edge of campus, BC’s Office of Sustainability has spent the last year working to clean up a waterway that is vital for salmon swimming nearby.
Students in the OLS Environment and Our Community course recently visited the habitat restoration area at Bellevue College. In this wooded area on the eastern edge of campus, BC’s Office of Sustainability has spent the last year working to clean up a waterway that is vital for salmon swimming nearby.
They have also led a prolonged effort to rid the campus of invasive plant species (like English ivy and Himalayan blackberries, obviously not from these parts!) and replace them with native plants.
OLS students lent a hand – several, actually – pulling deep-rooted ivy growing around a tree in front of the theater building. And they learned that automobile tires, as they make high-speed contact with roads, leave a toxic chemical behind; and when it rains, the stormwater runoff sends this chemical into local streams.
Sustainability Director Sara Holzknecht showed students a natural filter called a compost BURrito, which they’ve installed across one of the streams. As water flows through this large woven tube stuffed with compost, harmful chemicals are trapped inside – making our groundwater “salmon-safe.”
Environment & Our Community is a three-course series taken in the second or third year of the OLSBC program and is one of the many courses students take to earn their associate degree. In this course, students build awareness of the Puget Sound by engaging in the pressing issues facing our communities.
Occupational & Life Skills Bellevue College (OLSBC) is an associate degree program for neurodiverse students with learning disabilities. In our uniquely supportive skills-based program, students apply academic knowledge through community activities, service learning, and social experiences. Students identify a career pathway, gain marketable, workplace-ready competencies, develop better interpersonal skills, and complete an internship in alignment with their career goals.
Learn more about our program at an upcoming Information Session, open to all prospective students, family members/guardians, educators, counselors and other service providers. Come learn why OLS Bellevue College is one of the best colleges for students with learning disabilities.