The mission of the Environmental Science Center is to promote environmental stewardship, sustainability and academic achievement through science based environmental education.
ESC is building a world-class, state of the art Environmental Learning Center at Seahurst Park where children and educators can come together to learn to understand, appreciate and protect our precious natural resources, especially Puget Sound. Our future Environmental Learning Center will also be a gathering place in a stunning setting for our entire community.
The City of Burien has granted the ESC a 30 year lease to remodel the old caretaker's cottage into a state of the art Learning Center. The Learning Center will also be a model for green building techniques.
We are in the final phase of our capital campaign. The building exterior is now complete! The interior boasts a new ADA lift, heated flooring and stairs. Surrounding the building are new rain gardens and native plants. Water and electricity are connected. Some funding is in hand for completion of the interior but not enough to give our wonderful contractor the green light. Still to be raised is $200,000 - we are so close to opening our doors to the community with programs and classes and exhibits about our beautiful environment. Please help achieve the completion goal.
Every contribution propels us forward, and we invite you to be part of this exciting project. Contributions can be made online, or by printing and completing a Pledge Form [24 KB PDF file] and mailing it to our office with your check or credit card gift. If you'd prefer, you may simply mail a check made out to Environmental Science Center. Thank you for participating in this important community endeavor. The ESC is a 501(c)3 organization and contributions are tax deductible.
Environmental Science Center
126 SW 148th Street
Suite C100-170
Burien, WA 98166
You may use the Donate button below to make a secure, online donation using PayPal. They handle everything, we never have access to your account number. Clicking the button will take you to PayPal's site. If you're using Internet Explorer, you may need to add paypal.com to your Trusted sites list otherwise some of the Privacy protection may block the site from loading properly.
| The outside is painted | Inside looking Northwest | Inside looking South |
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| The outside of the building is painted, water and electricity are connected, and we're getting very close. | This picture was taken from just inside the door looking towards the windows in the Northwest corner. The grooves in the floor are for the heating system. | This picture was taken from the North wall, looking back towards the door. |
The rest of this page is available as an 843 KB PDF file if you'd like to view or print it in it's original format. Please note that we have started construction, but we still need to raise additional funds to completely finish and furnish the new Learning Center.
We are on track to achieve our goal of securing the remaining funds by late Spring 2009, and to begin construction shortly thereafter during the warm Summer months.
The milestones we have set are as follows:- Spring 2009: Funding Committed of $1.3 Million
- Summer 2009: Break Ground and Begin Construction
- Spring 2010: Environmental Science Center Facility Opens to the Public
The Environmental Science Center Board of Directors is committed to and actively pursuing its goal of making this project a reality through generous support from individuals, corporations, and foundations. We are extremely grateful for support we've received from many individuals, companies, and organizations including Boeing, WA State Department of Parks & Recreation Commission, Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, King County, KCD/WRIA9, D.V. & Ida J. McEachern Charitable Trust, Seattle Foundation, Waste Management, the Russell Family Foundation, the Norman Archibald Charitable Foundation, the Norcliffe Foundation, and the Puget Sound Energy Foundation. Your gifts to the capital fund are helping us to reach our goal!
We want to honor those members of the community who help make the Environmental Science Center a reality, and are pleased to offer several naming and recognition opportunities for donors who participate in the capital campaign. Please contact the ESC office for further information at (206) 248-4266.
The Environmental Science Center’s Capital Campaign is a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a lasting legacy of environmental stewardship, and a community gathering place at one of our region’s most beautiful and precious natural resources, Puget Sound. Your generous gift to this campaign will impact thousands of children for years to come.
The Environmental Science Center’s mission is to educate the next generation of environmental stewards and strengthen academic achievement by providing hands-on, indoor and outdoor educational programs for K-12 students which align with the goals of the surrounding school districts.
Through the ESC Capital Campaign, our vision is to construct a world-class, state of the art environmental learning center at Seahurst Park where children and educators can come together to understand, appreciate and protect our precious natural resources, including Puget Sound. Our future Environmental Learning Center will also be a gathering place in a stunning setting for our entire community.
Since the founding of ESC in 1999, demand for our programs has increased every year. As shown on the graphic, ESC provided over 15,000 hours of environmental education to more than 10,000 student contacts in 2008. Naturalists and educators provide courses on Puget Sound, healthy watersheds, marine habitat, soil contamination and salmon and other natural resources. All courses are aligned with school districts’ goals and are designed to strengthen academic achievement. They also show students and families how their behaviors can help restore and sustain the amazing natural resources of the Pacific Northwest. While much of ESC’s programming takes place outdoors, the ESC can be much more effective with a Learning Facility from which to operate.
The ESC outreaches and provides services to underserved populations by partnering with agencies where low income, diverse students are already engaged. Our programming partners include: Neighborhood House, Para los Niños, New Futures, Community Schools Collaboration, Puget Sound Skills Center and several school districts. Without our own facility, the ESC is reliant on schools and partner agencies for the indoor portion of our programs. Having our own facility will greatly increase capacity to offer programs in the evenings, summers, and on school breaks.
We are currently the only environmental education program focusing on K-12 students and schools in South King County. The majority of children we serve come from schools where over 75% qualify for a free or reduced lunch program. The opportunities provided by the Environmental Science Center are likely to be the only affordable opportunities for experiential, environmental education for the vast majority of the children served.
In October 2008 the ESC launched the public phase of our Capital Campaign with a goal of raising $1.3 Million for this important community project. Currently we have raised $937,000, and are in the final phases of our campaign.
Generous community support will help ESC construct its new Environmental Learning Center, which will increase our capacity to serve more students, allow us to provide services year round both indoors and outdoors, and provide staff offices which will facilitate day to day operations of the organization and offer a place for board members and volunteers to convene and serve ESC.
The City of Burien has given ESC a 30 year renewable lease for remodel of the old Caretaker’s Cottage within Seahurst Park. The new Learning Center will be constructed on the former site of the cottage, and will be built including many green features. It will also be located conveniently next to a freshwater stream, .7 mile waterfront (saltwater), plus 178 acres of forested trails which all will be incorporated into ESC’s curriculum. In addition, the Learning Center will accommodate two full classrooms of students or community groups (50 people) for environmental educational programs.
Landon Construction was selected for the project and construction started the week of June 29, 2009. Stop by and check out the progress.