Learning, Leading, and Growing: The 2024-2025 year with The Gaia Project

As another school year comes to a close, we want to congratulate students and teachers across New Brunswick for their amazing climate action initiatives and wish everyone a joyful and restful summer!   

It’s been a transformative year for The Gaia Project. From classroom visits to national conferences, we’ve been busy inspiring climate action, building connections, and learning together. With a growing appetite for climate education across New Brunswick, our team worked hard to support New Brunswick teachers, delivering new and returning programs in both French and English. Whether through interactive workshops, engaging panels, or hands-on projects, we’ve supported thousands of youth in exploring solutions and becoming climate leaders.

The Year in Numbers 

This year we connected with more students, supported more schools, and witnessed more inspiring moments of leadership than ever before. While numbers can’t capture the full impact, we’re excited to share a few standout stats that reflect the incredible momentum, and the dedication of the passionate educators and students we’re so lucky to work with. 

Your enthusiasm fuels our mission and inspires us to keep expanding and improving our offerings, and we are so grateful to engage with so many outstanding schools in New Brunswick! 

EcoSchools Canada in New Brunswick

Our EcoSchools program kept growing this year, with new schools participating and logging in their actions, receiving well deserved certifications. Through the program, students led impactful actions to reduce their school’s environmental footprint. From energy audits to school garden projects, youth across New Brunswick are making their schools and communities more sustainable, with every action having a positive and ripple effect on the world around them.

Green Experts: Be a Green Professional for a Day! 

This year marked the launch of our Green Experts Micro-internship program, providing an exciting chance for New Brunswick high school students to experience careers in sustainability up close. With climate change and environmental innovation taking center stage in today’s world, we wanted to offer young people a chance to see what a green future can look like and, more importantly, where they might fit into it. 

Instead of learning about green jobs from a distance, 13 students from grades 9 to 12 participated in day-long immersive visits to environmentally focused workplaces across the province, including: ACAP Saint John, McCain, Ducks Unlimited, SNB Forest Products Marketing Boards, and NB Power. Each visit provided hands-on experiences and meaningful conversations with professionals working in a variety of green sectors.

During their micro–internship with Ducks Unlimited, École Sainte-Anne students explore wetland biodiversity by sampling aquatic life at the Tantramar Wetlands Centre. 

Two students from Kennebecasis Valley High School learn about fish species identification and conservation techniques during their micro–internship at ACAP Saint John. 

The program continues to grow, opening doors for even more youth to discover green career opportunities and expanding our network of host organizations to inspire youth to consider green careers.  

Interested in getting hands-on experience with a green career? If you’re a New Brunswick high school student or an organization interested in hosting, reach out to join the Green Experts Micro-Internship program and be part of building a sustainable future! 

Spreading the Word: Conferences, Events and Community Building 

Beyond classroom presentations and workshops, our team actively participated in a variety of events to strengthen networks and share climate education tools. From being invited to conferences and summits across the region to hosting the second annual Empowering Tomorrow conference for the second year in a row, we’ve had many exciting opportunities to connect, collaborate, and amplify the importance of climate education. 

Empowering Tomorrow 2025: A Second Year of Success!

In April 2025, 156 high school students and 14 teachers from across New Brunswick came together at the Wu Conference Centre in Fredericton to attend Empowering Tomorrow, a day of hands-on workshops, career planning, and networking. 

Presented by NB Power and hosted by The Gaia Project and the Centre of Excellence, the event showcased 25 organizations leading the way in sustainability. Students explored career pathways in solar, wind, renewable energy, and more. Check out our blog to learn more about the sessions offered, and what makes Empowering Tomorrow so impactful!

Beyond School Walls and Provincial Borders 

This year, we also increased our involvement in special events significantly. Our staff participated in a wide range of events, including regional and national conferences and community gatherings. These gatherings provided us with important opportunities to highlight our impact, share ideas with like-minded organizations, and introduce climate education to new audiences. Whether speaking, facilitating, or connecting with the public, each event provided an opportunity to increase momentum for climate action. 

• Director of Inclusion, Anna-Lee Vienneau presented at a Francophone education conference in Prince Edward Island, sharing insights on climate education in French-language classrooms.
• Strategic Partnerships Manager, Travis Daley, facilitated a relationship-building event for local ENGOs, helping connect environmental organizations, sparking opportunities for collaboration and strengthening our impact.
• For Earth Day, Programs Coordinator, Catherine Rioux, visited École Sainte-Bernadette where she led a waste-themed presentation with Grade 5 students, and read a story followed by a discussion with Grade 2 students, sparking meaningful conversations about our impact on the environment.
• Our team also attended the NB Power Energizing Efficiency Conference, where we connected with leaders in energy efficiency and learned about different strategies for advancing sustainability in the energy sector.
• Our leadership team, (Director of Inclusion, Anna-Lee Vienneau, and Executive Director, Geoff MacDonald), presented at the NAAEE (North American Association for Environmental Education) conference in Pittsburgh. It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with a wide network of environmental organizations, exchange ideas, and learn from international leaders in climate action education.

Professionals from numerous New Brunswick Environmental Nonprofit Organizations sit in a circle at a networking event, hosted by The Gaia Project.

Closing Out This year

With new programs on the horizon and our team growing stronger, we’re excited to continue this journey with New Brunswick teachers, students, and passionate community members involved in making the world a little greener every day. Here’s to another year of learning, leading, and making climate action a reality. Until then, we wish you all a sunny, restful, and inspiring summer. See you in September! 

Author: Léane Journault, Programs Coordinator (Francophone), The Gaia Project 

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