Sustainability is more than part of the curriculum at American School of The Hague. It’s a developing culture shaped by student action and supported by all members of the school community. Middle School Science teacher Owen Davison has guided his students through an evolving, student-led project focused on the environment and our own individual and collective powers to protect it.

 

Owen reflects on how he approaches sustainability in the classroom, how student agency is essential in dialogues surrounding sustainability, and how the wider ASH community helps empower the next generation of environmental stewards.

 

 

For Owen, teaching sustainability is about showing students they have the capacity to understand the world and change it. “The core of science is curiosity,” he says. “And the core of teaching science at this age is helping students see that their questions are valid and valuable. If we can connect that to real-world issues like sustainability, we’re doing something powerful.”

 

Owen prioritizes action and optimism. “We want to show them that their small actions matter. That their voice can influence others. When students realize they can speak up about issues like ocean plastic or fast fashion and have people listen, that’s a game-changer” he says.

 

The Grade 5 Sustainability Summit invites students to start by researching an environmental topic they care about and design a poster to educate the school community. “Some choose topics like deforestation or coral bleaching. Others look at what’s happening in their own kitchens, like food waste or recycling. What’s important is that it comes from them.”

 

 

Owen believes that the most meaningful learning happens when students take ownership. “The project works because it’s theirs,” he explains. “I don’t assign topics. I ask: What’s something you’ve learned that shocked you? What’s something you want your friends to know? That’s where the work begins.”

 

This is how Owen explains that a sense of ownership leads to deeper engagement. “They don’t just Google things and write it down. They start asking: What do we do here at ASH about this? Why don’t more people know about it? Can I include a QR code on my poster that links to a petition? Suddenly, they’re not just learning, they’re becoming advocates.”

 

And even more than that, they’re building empathy. “One student made a poster about child labor in the chocolate industry. Another focused on access to clean water in different parts of the world. These are big issues. But when they research it, when they write about it, it becomes personal. That’s where the care comes in.”

 

Curiosity, Owen notes, is the gateway to empathy. “If we let kids explore their questions, they’ll naturally begin to care. And once they care, they want to act.”

 

 

While the Sustainability Summit is rooted in a single class, its impact stretches across the school. “Every year, students put their posters up in the hallways—outside the science rooms, near the cafeteria, even in staff areas. They become conversation starters. Teachers from other departments mention them. Students from different grades stop to read them. It becomes a whole-school dialogue.”

 

That kind of visibility reinforces ASH’s broader commitment to sustainability. “It shows that student voice matters here,” says Owen. “When a Grade 7 student sees their work up on a wall and hears a high schooler say, ‘That’s a cool topic,’ that’s empowerment.”

 

Owen also credits the Middle and High School’s Sustainability Teams and faculty culture for keeping sustainability a shared priority. “We’ve got a community here that wants to push this agenda forward. Teachers, leadership, students—it’s not one person doing the work. It’s all of us, pulling in the same direction.”

 

And that direction, he says, is toward a more thoughtful, aware generation. “I always tell my students: You don’t have to fix everything. But you do have to care. Because caring leads to action. And action leads to change.”