Youth Environmental Action

04/13/2026

Our seeds are starting to sprout at the meadow on Beaglin Park Drive! Save the date for our pocket meadow celebration — Sunday, June 7 at 3PM! Celebrate the hard work of our YEA Ambassadors and learn how you can improve pollinator habitat in your own space 🌱🪻

04/09/2026

Wow — another amazing planting day at Parkside Horticulture CTE / A+ Garden Centre at Parkside High!! Congrats to all of our YEA Ambassadors who helped to put this event on. This year the garden we designed *of course* had an emphasis on pollinator-attracting flowers given all the work we’ve been doing on improving pollinator habitats 🦋🐝

What we didn’t expect though was to be recognized with the Partnership Appreciation Award! And to have it presented by one of our very own seniors was icing on the cake!

Grateful to be in community with stellar partners, local leaders, and the absolute best students 🌟 Shout out to Jerry Kelley and Ms. Burke for a great event.

03/04/2026

02/13/2026

YEA alumni — we invite you to join an exclusive GroupMe with content curated just for you. Don’t worry, we won’t be posting too often, just opportunities to help you further your work like:
- Part time and full time job opportunities
- Scholarships and grants
- Speaking Opportunities
- Occasional YEA events where we’d love to have alumni involvement

Tell us what else you might like to see in the group and feel free to use this as a space to stay connected with your peers, too! We’re looking forward to you joining us: https://groupme.com/join_group/109458076/fHHUbsN8

12/02/2025

Happy Giving Tuesday! We hope you’ll consider YEA in your giving today 💚 https://www.shoregives365.org/story/YEA_Giving_Tuesday

2025 has been an action-packed and truly transformative year for us. With the leadership of our incredible student ambassadors and the support of dedicated partners, we’ve made meaningful strides for our community and our environment.

🌱 Growing Habitat & Healthy Communities
• Planned two large pollinator meadows in high-profile Salisbury locations and brought one to life this year.
• Expanded pollinator habitat at the Boundless Community Garden and spent countless hours planting, tending, and harvesting fresh fruits and veggies.
• Delivered produce all spring and summer to families in the Newtown neighborhood.
• Installed new raised beds with community partners like Habitat for Humanity of Wicomico County, setting the stage for an abundant 2026 growing season.

🌎 Investing in Young Environmental Leaders
• Celebrated a remarkable cohort of graduating seniors and awarded scholarships to support their continued environmental leadership.
• Had students showcase their work at state conferences like Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education and earn recognition from community groups, including “Women of Wicomico” (Wicomico Commission on Women) and “Youth Leadership Awardee” (Wicomico Environmental Trust) honors.

🌱 Driving Community Sustainability
• Funded student-led projects that make local schools and neighborhoods more sustainable.
• Shared the importance of pollinator habitat through school programs, outreach events, and community education.
• Rebranded with a new name and logo — Youth Environmental Action — to reflect the breadth of our work and the impact our young leaders are making across the Shore.

For a volunteer-powered organization, we couldn’t be more proud of the difference these young changemakers are making. And we are grateful for everyone who believes in this work.

If YEA’s impact inspires you, please consider supporting us this Giving Tuesday.

No gift is too small. Every dollar goes directly toward empowering the young environmental stewards whose faces you see here!

11/26/2025

2025 has been an action-packed and truly transformative year for Youth Environmental Action (YEA!). With the leadership of our incredible student ambassadors and the support of dedicated partners, we’ve made meaningful strides for our community and our environment.

🌱 Growing Habitat & Healthy Communities
• Planned two large pollinator meadows in high-profile Salisbury locations and brought one to life this year.
• Expanded pollinator habitat at the Boundless Community Garden and spent countless hours planting, tending, and harvesting fresh fruits and veggies.
• Delivered produce all spring and summer to families in the Newtown neighborhood.
• Installed new raised beds with community partners like Habitat for Humanity of Wicomico County, setting the stage for an abundant 2026 growing season.

🌎 Investing in Young Environmental Leaders
• Celebrated a remarkable cohort of graduating seniors and awarded scholarships to support their continued environmental leadership.
• Had students showcase their work at state conferences like Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education and earn recognition from community groups, including “Women of Wicomico” (Wicomico Commission on Women) and “Youth Leadership Awardee” (Wicomico Environmental Trust) honors.

🌱 Driving Community Sustainability
• Funded student-led projects that make local schools and neighborhoods more sustainable.
• Shared the importance of pollinator habitat through school programs, outreach events, and community education.
• Rebranded with a new name and logo — Youth Environmental Action — to reflect the breadth of our work and the impact our young leaders are making across the Shore.

For a volunteer-powered organization, we couldn’t be more proud of the difference these young changemakers are making. And we are grateful for everyone who believes in this work.

If YEA’s impact inspires you, please consider supporting us this Giving Tuesday:
👉 https://www.shoregives365.org/story/YEA_Giving_Tuesday

No gift is too small. Every dollar goes directly toward empowering the young environmental stewards whose faces you see in the photos on our ShoreGives365 page!

Support Youth Environmental Action this Giving Tuesday!

11/19/2025

It was a big week for YEA! We have officially completed the preparation and seeding of Wicomico County’s newest pollinator meadow, at the new site of Wicomico Public Library's forthcoming flagship branch. This has been a longtime in coming with YEA Ambassadors working on this effort for more than 14 months!

This is going to be an asset to the birds, butterflies, and bees that rely on native species as well as a beautiful demonstration site for what community members can do in their own yards and businesses. Stay turned for an announcement in early 2026 for our groundbreaking event 🌼

We’d like to sincerely thank:
• Beth Sheppard and Matt Heim from Lower Shore Land Trust for sharing their expertise
• John Rebb from Shorecut Lawn Care for their incredible partnership in site-preparation
• Jerry Kelley with A+ Garden Centre for his unwavering support
• Seth Hershberger and Aurelio Giannitti from Wicomico Public Library for their commitment to modeling sustainability in public libraries.

11/15/2025

Congratulations to YEA Ambassador, Sarah Yamakawa for her Student Environmental Leadership award at Wicomico Environmental Trust’s Banquet! Sarah has worked tirelessly over the past three years with us to plant trees, plan and install pollinator habitat, and build a more inclusive environmental movement in Salisbury. We’re grateful to her leadership and are so glad to see her recognized in this way! Congrats Sarah!!

11/07/2025

Big progress happening at our pollinator meadow site at the forthcoming Sarbanes Branch of Wicomico Public Library! Ambassadors Sarah, Maddie and Riley met with the Shore Cut team as they removed the remaining sod this week in preparation for our seeding day!

10/21/2025

Shout out to Madeline for this incredible accomplishment! Madeline is one of our Ambassadors leading on our new pollinator meadow effort. Another example of how students aren’t just our future leaders, they’re leading TODAY 🌟

Excitement for Parkside CTE Horticulture Students:

Madeline Tomlinson is traveling to Des Moines, Iowa today
to take part in the World Food Prize Federation Global Youth Institute. Maddie is traveling with the UMES team and two other Maryland students. Maddie will be joined by 180 students from around the globe who will be interacting with World Leaders and presenting their qualifying research on addressing global sustainability issues.

Madeline, we are so incredibly proud of you and can't wait to hear about your trip and presentations!!!

10/07/2025

Our next Ambassador-led environmental action project is officially underway: we’re creating a Pollinator Meadow Habitat at the new Wicomico Public Library site on Beaglin Park Drive! 🐝🌸

Last week, we kicked things off with site prep, thanks to the amazing team at Shorecut Lawn Care and guidance from our incredible partners at Lower Shore Land Trust

What’s next? Work will continue through the fall as we transform this space into a thriving meadow. Come spring, expect a gorgeous display of native flowers and a new safe haven for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators!

We’ll be celebrating this transformation with a community event this spring — stay tuned for details!

This project reflects what’s possible when youth lead with purpose and the community comes together to support sustainability!