Start a YES Team

Interested in becoming a YES Team?

 

2025-2026 YES Team Registration Form

1. Know What To Expect

1. Educational Content covering key sustainability topics such as water quality, energy efficiency, waste reduction, renewable energy, local foods, land restoration, climate change, and more. 
2. Ongoing Support from dedicated YES Staff and a statewide network of participating teams across Minnesota. 
3. Access to Funding to help cover program-related expenses, including transportation, substitute teacher fees, and project materials. 
4. Customized Tours and Workshops tailored to your team’s interests, including:  
   1. The annual YES Fall Summit at Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center in Spicer, MN on Wednesday October 8, 2025 from 8:00am to 2:00pm. 
   2. The YES Weekend Retreat at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, MN on Friday, January 30 to Sunday, February 1. 
5. Connections to Experts and Partner Organizations to support and enhance your team’s project work. 
6. Project Planning Facilitation to guide your team from idea to implementation. 
7. Support for Community Engagement, including assistance in organizing events that promote and celebrate your projects. 
8. Tools, Resources, and Project Guides to help you successfully implement, measure, and evaluate your environmental initiatives. 
9. Participation in the Annual YES Competition, where teams can showcase their projects to a panel of green career professionals. The top two teams will receive a fully funded field trip—details coming soon! 

2. Choose an option that works for your team

• YES as an Individual Class: Offer YES as an elective class at your school, can be tailored to meet STEM requirements and/or other science graduation standards. Flexibility available to offer class for a quarter, semester and/or the entire year.
• YES as Part of an Existing Class: Enhance a current class by adding project-based learning to your curriculum. YES! can be tailored to any discipline including science, technology, engineering, math, social studies, language arts, and business.
• YES as a Club: Teams have found creative ways to form a YES club before or after school as well as during lunches and study halls. Some teams meet once a week, others may meet monthly or bi-weekly. There is flexibility based on the needs of the coaches and team members.
• YES as a Community Council: Teams can pair with other community groups or members to form a council that partners in YES initiatives.

3. Enlist a Coach

YES coaches are some of our favorite people. They are energetic, enthusiastic about making their schools and communities more sustainable, and fully committed to engaging youth in the process. They are typically teachers – often science, agriculture, or industrial tech teachers, but also instructors in language arts, social studies, health and fitness, Spanish, special education, or gifted and talented programs. Interested community members also make excellent coaches! In this case, it may be helpful (though not essential) to include an interested school staff person in the process. It is no surprise that people of this description are often very busy. We encourage teams to look for a community member or other school staff person to serve as “assistant” coach, or to enlist two equal co-coaches.

4. Complete and Submit Your Team Registration Form

To register, please complete the online YES Team Registration Form.

• After your registration is received, a YES Staff member will be in touch by phone or e-mail to welcome you to the program and to set up a time to meet personally with your team. The YES program is designed to “meet you where you’re at” and provide the interaction that is most useful to the unique needs of your team, school, and community.
• The team fee varies depending upon the number of participants per YES Team and allows YES to provide Teams with customized education programs, hands-on events, and 1:1 support from YES Staff. Some teams offset the cost by seeking a local sponsor, organizing a fundraiser, or implementing a student-participation fee.
  • $150 Team Fee – 1 to 10 Student Participants
  • $300 Team Fee – 11 to 25 Student Participants
  • $500 Team Fee – 26 to 50 Student Participants
    • * Please Note: Once YES has received the 2025-2026 YES Team Registration form, YES Director will email the listed business office contact with the invoice.

5. Funding and Reimbursement Opportunities

Youth Eco Solutions (YES) is proudly funded by Minnesota’s Environment and Natural Resource Trust Fund. This support enables YES to offer reimbursement opportunities to participating YES Teams to help cover project-related and school district expenses.

Reimbursement Details:

• Project Expenses:
  Teams may request up to $500 in reimbursement for costs directly related to their YES project.

• School District Expenses (including transportation):
  Each YES Team may request up to $750 in reimbursement for school district-related expenses. This includes transportation costs to attend YES events, site visits, or project-related travel.

These reimbursement opportunities are designed to reduce financial barriers and support students in taking action for the environment in their schools and communities.

Questions? Email [email protected], we’d love to hear from you!