Hurst teacher, Barry Guillot and some of his students were recently invited to share their experiences and information about the LaBranche Wetland Watchers Service-Learning Project with participants from the Summit for Courageous Conversations: Achieving Racial Equity and Excellence in Education Conference that was held in New Orleans.  Superintendents, Principals, teachers, and program directors from around the nation gathered for a 3 day conference that examined successful equity/anti-racist educational policies, programs, and practices that empower educators to create schools that offer every student a world class education. As part of the conference, a group of visitors from around the United States and Canada traveled to Hurst Middle School in Destrehan, Louisiana to learn more about Hurst Middle School’s nationally recognized environmental service-learning project.

 “I am honored that I was asked to speak to this group and very excited about having 12 of my students as part of the presentation as well. I have always believed that service-learning offers all students educational opportunities that would not be available otherwise, as well as giving students from all backgrounds a chance to be a positive contributing member of their community.” said Hurst teacher Barry Guillot.

 “LaBranche Wetland Watchers is a high quality service-learning project that is explicitly linked to content standards. It’s the perfect project to get people new to service-learning engaged and excited about getting involved. It brings all eight of the service-learning standards to life and illustrates how middle school kids can take the lead in building support for Louisiana’s coastal restoration.” Said Mrs. Wokie Weah, NYLC Vice President of Programs.

 “We all enjoyed listening to the students, and seeing the passion Mr. Guillot has in teaching them about the wetlands.” Said Mrs. Maya Beecham, Program Coordinator for the National Youth Leadership Council.Participants from a National Conference in New Orleans visit Hurst Middle School to learn about service-learning