Bailey Zainab Nejati and Joyce

WETA Hometown Heroes May 2006. Environmental science teacher Joyce Bailey and student leader Zainab Nejati head the Poolesville High School Roots & Shoots program, dedicated to inspiring awareness and action toward the human community, animals and the environment.

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Joyce Bailey, an environmental sciences teacher at Poolesville High School in Poolesville, Maryland, and her student Zainab Nejati are the focus of a month-long WETA’s Hometown Heroes profile airing in May.

WETA selected Bailey and Nejati for their deep commitment to environmental protection and their singular abilities to motivate others to take action to protect the environment, both locally and around the world.

Bailey has inspired hundreds of students over the years, through her advance placement and honors courses at Poolesville. Bailey was the impetus for the creation of the Poolesville chapter of Roots & Shoots, a student-driven environmental activist group created by renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall.

Roots & Shoots is dedicated to inspiring awareness and action in three areas: the human community, animals and the environment. The Poolesville chapter is among the most active in the world. Bailey is tireless in pursuit of her objective of instilling environmental values in young people, as evidenced by the success the Poolesville chapter has had in raising awareness of and taking actions related to such problems as soil erosion, suburban sprawl and wildlife protection.

Bailey earned a scholarship through the Earthwatch Institute to visit Kenya, and subsequently inspired her students to devise their own fundraising campaign for the Lewa Wildlife Sanctuary and La Parua School there. Bailey’s innovative course work through her Global Ecological Studies Program at Poolesville High challenges students through fieldwork. Bailey believes that “seeing is believing,” and has brought her students face to face with environmental issues and how they play out “on the ground.”

Nejati is a motivated and committed student leader on environmental and cultural issues. She is the president of the Poolesville chapter of Roots & Shoots, and as such has proven adept at fostering creativity and consensus among her peers, thereby prompting action steps that make an impact.

Nejati has led her group in the care of abandoned farm animals at the Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary, instituted lunchtime discussions of sprawl issues at her school, and launched a concerted planting of native species in conjunction with the Potomac Watershed Project. These and other efforts led her to be selected to represent Roots & Shoots at the United Nations, as well as being selected to the National Youth Leadership Council of Roots & Shoots.

Nejati was recently awarded the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Arthur Dorman Scholarship, in recognition of her commitment to both the environment and to strengthening her community.

“What makes me most satisfied when it comes to my environmental efforts is that I am getting other people involved, giving them opportunities to do something,” Nejati said. “Often young people have the drive but cannot find the right outlet.”