Supporter Spotlight: Boeing

Supporter Spotlight: Boeing

Educating and engaging students in environmental issues is a key way to inspire stewardship and social change, and IslandWood is doing that work every day!

 

 

John Warner with this grandson, Robert, and IslandWood’s founder, Debbi Brainerd.

We are so grateful for Boeing’s many, many years of support. In 2023, Boeing will help enable the expansion of our Community Waters stormwater curriculum into Tacoma Public Schools. The people at Boeing have been wonderful partners since the very start of IslandWood. Read more about our history together below.

 

When did Boeing first get involved with IslandWood, and how has Boeing been involved since?

Boeing has been involved with IslandWood since John Warner, Boeing’s then-senior vice president and chief administrative officer, first toured the construction site over twenty years ago. He almost immediately joined the board, and Boeing has been involved in supporting IslandWood’s educational programs and outreach initiatives ever since!

 

 

Why did Boeing choose to support IslandWood?

 

Educating and engaging students in environmental issues is a key way to inspire stewardship and social change, and IslandWood is doing that work every day! We appreciate IslandWood’s ongoing commitment to student-led, hands-on, and inquiry-based learning; this approach creates space for students to experience themselves as capable problem solvers with the skills needed to address issues – environmental and otherwise – in their own communities.

 

 

Why does Boeing care about environmental education?

 

At Boeing, we care deeply about sustainability, including environmental stewardship, social progress, and values-based, transparent governance. Our focus is on employee safety and well-being; global aerospace safety, equity, diversity, and inclusion; sustainable operations; innovation and clean technologies; and community engagement. We know that it takes everyone working together to address environmental challenges like stormwater – whether in industrial parking lots or local schoolyards. Today’s students will be our future sustainability leaders. Of course, we hope that some of them will ultimately work at Boeing to continue making aerospace and the world better for future generations!

 

 

Urban School Programs Coordinator Celina Steiger stands in a circle with Community Waters students while they investigate a puddle on the sidewalk.

Urban School Programs Coordinator Celina Steiger stands in a circle with Community Waters students while they investigate a puddle on the sidewalk.

What’s your favorite IslandWood memory, place, or program?

 

One of Boeing’s favorite IslandWood programs is Community Waters, a place-based, hands-on 4th grade science unit that invites students to solve real community environmental problems through engineering and collaboration. Students broaden their understanding of stormwater-related issues in their communities, spend time learning in the classroom and exploring outside, and apply their understanding through an engineering design process to develop a solution for a stormwater runoff problem at a specific site. Boeing first supported Community Waters through a grant in 2017, and we have been thrilled to partner with IslandWood on the program’s expansion across Seattle Public Schools and beyond. We’re excited to continue our partnership, which now focuses on bringing Community Waters to students across Tacoma Public Schools.

 

 

What are your hopes for IslandWood in the years to come?

 

Boeing hopes that the circle of IslandWood’s community continues to widen, and that more students and schools are able to experience the magic and influence of its programs. The lands we call home are made better by every student who engages in environmental stewardship, and our next generation is actively learning to explore, investigate, design, and positively impact their communities through their time in IslandWood’s programming. Thank you, IslandWood!

 

 

Anything else we should know about you and/or Boeing?

 

Boeing leaders have served on IslandWood’s board for the majority of the last 20 years. We are grateful to John Warner, Mary Armstrong, Steven Rogers, and now Ben Nimmergut, vice president for Engineering Functions and the Washington State Design Center, who have each been enthusiastic champions of IslandWood. The memorial for Steven Rogers, who was Boeing’s former chief legal counsel for Environment, Health, & Safety, was held at IslandWood. That day, a large group of Steven’s family and friends, including a big crew from Boeing, saw firsthand why IslandWood was so important to Steven, and why it continues to be important to our community.

 

 

 

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