{"id":36353,"date":"2026-07-31T15:41:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/?p=36353"},"modified":"2026-07-31T15:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:46:16","slug":"lets-go-a-new-program-introduced-last-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/vi\/2026\/07\/31\/lets-go-a-new-program-introduced-last-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Go!–a New Program Introduced Last Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n

By Paulo Asuncion<\/em><\/p>\n\n

As of 2024, the California Department of Education reported that only 13% of California public schools have successfully integrated Environmental Education (EE) into their curriculum, although 80% of California educators expressed a desire to further integrate environmental literacy and education into their classrooms and outdoor spaces.

Through its environmental projects, CommUniverCity’s Growing Sustainably Program helps address these gaps by providing hands-on, outdoor experiential learning opportunities for students in East San Jos\u00e9. One of its subprograms, “Let’s Go!”, encourages and empowers children to learn in a familiar, supportive, and much-needed outdoor environment.

Let\u2019s Go! was implemented in Spring 2026 at Santee Elementary School. In partnership with the CommUniverCity and the CORAL (Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County) afterschool program, we were able to engage with 50 young members of our community in grades 4 through 6.

The program had two core components focused on student learning and empowerment. The first was a two-week nutrition education workshop centered on healthy lifestyle choices and their connection to environmental protection; the second was a four-week environmental education workshop where students explored concepts such as pollution, restoration, and teamwork through carefully designed soccer games with special mechanics and rules.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n

By combining physical activity, play, and environmental learning, the program explored creative ways to help students engage with complex environmental concepts in a fun, safe, and active environment. This approach also highlights the growing potential of sports and games as tools for environmental education and youth development.<\/p>\n\n

The combination of soccer, games, and environmental education received generally positive feedback from both students and CORAL staff. In post-program evaluations, one Santee Elementary student who participated in Let\u2019s Go shared, \u201cIt was fun because we were playing soccer and using teamwork.

Another male participant noted that the challenges and special rules during the games helped him better understand how pollution impacts living spaces.<\/p>\n\n

Many students also expressed gratitude for the experience, and several of them shared that they felt sad when the program ended and asked when it would return, seeing it as something positive to look forward to in hopes that it would come back to them in the future.<\/p>\n\n

One of the main staff members of CORAL also praised the efforts of CommUniverCity, saying, \u201cYou guys are doing more than enough for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

As Spring 2026 came to an end, the learning, growth, and connections built through Let\u2019s Go continued to motivate CommUniverCity to expand its efforts in engaging communities, creating meaningful learning experiences, and empowering youth through environmental education, play, and teamwork.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Let’s Go Coordinator [middle] in a group photo with community youth participants for the Let’s Go! program. Fall 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paulo Asuncion As of 2024, the California Department of Education reported that only 13% of California public schools have successfully integrated Environmental Education (EE) into their curriculum, although 80% […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217679849,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdKLrT-9sl","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217679849"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36353"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36359,"href":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36353\/revisions\/36359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cucsj.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}