EV is thrilled to announce that our Sprout Up college program is expanding! We have officially welcomed two new chapters this school year at UC Irvine and CSU Sacramento. These new additions will bring our total Sprout Up chapter count to 11 universities and colleges throughout California and New York City! This fall, Sprout Up engaged 250+ college volunteers who taught weekly lesson series in 40 classrooms across the country.
Our two newest chapters have spent the fall recruiting and training their founding leadership teams. By early 2026, they are preparing their volunteers to teach their first Sprout Up lessons in local Title 1 elementary schools! Both of these new chapters are getting started because current students at UC Irvine and CSU Sacramento reached out to EV, expressing their desire and interest in bringing the Sprout Up program to their college campuses.
The students who reached out have stepped into leadership as the founding Sprout Up Chapter Directors on their campuses and worked hard this fall to successfully become registered student organizations and recruit fellow students to volunteer alongside them. Their dedication, energy, and enthusiasm are inspiring and contagious! These new chapters demonstrate college students’ appetite for engaging in volunteer work and their passion for nature science education
Here are some words from a few amazing volunteers and faculty members who are making these new chapters possible. We are incredibly grateful for their efforts to bring Sprout Up to their campus!
Sprout Up @ UC Irvine
“I was inspired to found a chapter of Sprout Up at UC Irvine because I wanted to create a community of environmental educators on campus. There is strong support for environmental sciences on campus, but a student organization combining both education and the environment had not yet been established. I thought this opportunity would appeal to many dedicated undergrads! We are beyond excited to have the opportunity to reach young students around us who we can inspire to love the environment as much as our volunteers do.”
– Alison Coffman, Founding Sprout Up Chapter Director, UC Irvine
Sprout Up @ Sacramento State
“I’m really excited about Sprout Up because it is a student-led, community-focused organization, and the mission and goals of the organization strongly align with my personal values as an educator. My teaching and research in environmental science emphasize experiential learning and working beyond the classroom, and Sprout Up brings just that to life in a meaningful way. I agreed to sponsor the organization because I truly enjoy supporting students who take initiative and build programs that create real, local impact.”
– Si Gao, Sprout Up Faculty Advisor, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies / California State University, Sacramento
“I’m so excited to have this opportunity to expand Sacramento’s environmental education resources and lead a great team!”
– Adriana Graves Vargas, Founding Sprout Up Chapter Director, California State University, Sacramento
“I am extremely excited to be on the founding Sacramento State Sprout Up team. I’ve been looking for a way to get involved in the Sacramento community and I feel that Sprout Up is the perfect way to give back. This program is exciting to me because I believe that bringing hands-on environmental education to young children will instill in them a love for nature, and give them the knowledge they need to begin to view the world through an environmentally-conscious lens.”
– Meris Burchell, Founding Sprout Up Development Manager, California State University, Sacramento
Our 11 sprout Up chapters:
- Sprout Up @ Columbia / Barnard
- Sprout Up @ Cal Poly SLO
- Sprout Up @ New York University
- Sprout Up @ Sacramento State
- Sprout Up @ Santa Clara University
- Sprout Up @ Stanford
- Sprout Up @ UC Davis
- Sprout Up @ UC Irvine
- Sprout Up @ UC San Diego
- Sprout Up @ UC Santa Barbara
- Sprout Up @ UC Santa Cruz
If you or someone you know may be interested in starting a new Sprout Up chapter, please reach out to Sprout Up National Director, Kendall Post, at kendall@sproutup.org
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