Cape Romain Environmental Education Charter School's (CREECS) mission is to create a small and diverse collaborative learning community that immerses students in critical thinking, environmental stewardship, and engaged citizenship through meaningful and innovative learning experiences. CREECS engages family and community in the commitment to nurture the whole child in preparation for a global society by emphasizing ecological conservation and sustainability. Students learn a ?love of place? through hands-on participation in an inquiry-based environmental education curriculum grounded in the study of natural resources in the area. This innovative, interdisciplinary, environmentally-based curriculum is purposefully woven together utilizing the constructivism learning approach where students are actively engaged in thinking, learning, questioning and understanding to study the various habitats and environmental considerations of the natural resources in their locality. Educational experiences that require analysis, synthesis, and reflection combined with service learning opportunities facilitate student development of higher-order thinking skills and environmental stewardship. Our school is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by focusing on educating the whole child, involving families and community members in education, teaching state standards and twenty-first-century skills, and providing learning opportunities that foster engaged citizenship and environmental stewardship. CREECS's teachers are involved in on-going professional development and training that includes but is not limited to the following: Project Based Learning, Sustainable Forestry, Singapore Math, Environmental Education Curriculum Development, and Responsive Classroom: The Power of Our Words, Paula Denton, EdD . The year ended with students participating in the Lowcountry Shrimp Festival in which students created two marine debris sculptures. This gave students the opportunity to communicate what they learned during their year-end culminating project. The culminating project was designed to demonstrate rigorous student work. Parents, grandparents, and community members were all invited to attend.