Dear Students, Educators, NHEC members, and Community leaders:

The National Hispanic Environmental Council (NHEC) is still accepting applications from students to participate in our upcoming 8th Annual, national, "Minority Youth Environmental Training Institute", to be held September 19--26, 2009, in Glorieta, New Mexico, located in beautiful northern NM.

Like our NYC, DC, and CA regional Institutes, the national Institute in New Mexico is an intensive, residential, multi-day, science-based environmental education and environmental career awareness program for talented teens, aged 16-19, selected competitively from all across the U.S. This Institute is 8 days long. Through a full scholarship, NHEC will COVER ALL COSTS for accepted students, including round-trip airfare, housing, meals, books, equipment, etc.

Since this is the national Institute, note that the age range now extends to 19 years old and students from all 50 states and Puerto Rico are eligible to apply.

The NM Institute is being funded by a number of federal and non-federal funders, including environmental agencies like the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the National Park Service. As in past Institutes, we will be utilizing several national parks and other public lands in northern NM as learning sites. Students will be housed at the Glorieta Conference Center and closely supervised by NHEC instructors and staff.

Like the regionals held during the summer, the NM Institute is designed to teach students about key environmental, energy, and natural resource topics. It will also teach students about the wide range of Careers in the environmental, energy, and natural resources arena, as well as give information about universities and college majors open in these fields.

In addition to our Instructors, NHEC also has an overlay of "role models" --working minority professionals from every environmental field --who each year participate in the Institute as volunteers. Several are present every day to inspire the students, help teach the curriculum, and share their environmental expertise, cultural heritage, and technical knowledge.

Go to http://www.nheec.org/MYETI-NM-2009/index.html for all materials necessary for students to apply to the Institute. Please read the "Fact Sheet" first, as it has key information about the program. Interested students should apply as soon as possible as the Institute is fast approaching.

Just so know, the NM Institute is normally held in August. However, this year there were some delays in receiving the funds from our federal sponsors. The result was that we had to shift the Institute into September. We are moving ahead and will have another great Institute.

We also ask that you forward this email on to those you think might be interested in this highly educational program, including qualified students, fellow educators, high schools, colleges, youth organizations, and more. We appreciate your help.

Feel free to contact NHEC, especially our Programs Coordinator, Juan Rodriguez, at rodriguez@nheec.org or myself, at rrivera@nheec.org if you have any questions. Thank you.

Roger Rivera
President, NHEC