Burlington High School has a unique school year. Over a decade ago, the school revised the calendar so that the second semester ends before Memorial Day, leaving the last two weeks for Year End Studies [YES]. In the early summer, instead of counting the days, hours and minutes until summer break, the entire school shifts gears and engages in project-based learning.

Burlington City & Lake Semester has engaged in YES in a variety of ways — as consultants, as co-designers, and as facilitators. This year, BCL piloted a program that offered 11 students a taste of the full BCL experience. Loosely titled “The Best of BCL,” it included an array of real-world learning environments, and integrated more than a dozen community partners. We ranged across the city, from the green spaces of the New North End to the industrial zone in the South End, from the hill to the lake. Topics ranges widely too, from public art to science. The through-line was inquiry; in every setting, students’ questions were the wind in the sails.

What else happens, as spring makes way for summer? Well, the civic life of the city never stops. In late June, Green Mountain Transit and Burlington Electric Department unveiled five new electric-powered buses. The new E-buses will reduce noise, air pollution, and crucially, the city’s climate footprint. GMT’s five new E-buses will reduce the city’s carbon footprint by nearly 500 tons per year.

On the day of the press conference, climate change didn’t feel distant and abstract: a heat wave was beginning to crest, and it was already 84 degrees at 10am. Clearly, the time for investment in the city’s Net Zero Energy goals is now.

Rory Jones, a BCL12 alumna, spoke at the press conference. There, in front of dozens of city leaders, she took the mike and said, “Our future is at stake. For my generation, this is personal. We plan to be here on this Earth for most of the next century, and we need a stable climate.”