The questions we actually get.

Green Silicon Valley is a 501(c)(3) student-led nonprofit that connects high school volunteers with local schools to deliver hands-on environmental STEM presentations for grades 4–8.

GSV is supported by donations, grants, and community partners.

We primarily present to students in grades 4 through 8, though we can adapt our presentations for other age groups upon request.

Our presentations cover a range of environmental STEM topics including renewable energy, recycling and waste reduction, water conservation, climate science, and local ecosystems.

Standard presentations are approximately 45–60 minutes, including a hands-on activity. We can adjust the length based on your schedule.

You can request a presentation by filling out our Teacher Request Form on this website. We will match you with a nearby volunteer group and coordinate scheduling.

Visit our Volunteer Sign-Up page and fill out the form with your group information. Groups can be 1–7 members from the same high school.

Yes! All volunteers receive verified community service hours for their participation, which can be used for PVSA and other service awards.

We are funded through individual donations, grants, and community partnerships. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, all donations are tax-deductible.

You can donate directly through our website. Every dollar helps us provide environmental education to students across the country and internationally.

Free. No tuition, no kit fee, no surprise upsell. We're a 501(c)(3) and the cost is covered by donations and grants. If money is the reason you can't join, that's the one thing we've built the whole org to take off the table.

You get a code at the workshop. Enter it on the site, set up a quick account, and you're in your class. No application essay, no waitlist — the code is your ticket.

No. That's the second door. If you're a teen already working on a project, pitch us directly. A standout pitch gets a 1:1 mentor and a grant of up to $1,500 to ship it — half on signing, half at the demo.

No. The workshops start from zero and are taught by teenagers who were also at zero not long ago. The whole point is hands-on from day one: you build a real thing, you don't sit through a lecture series first.

No. Our partner-school workshops have run online so far, and the live classes and mentorship happen over video. Where you are matters less than whether you show up and build.

Teenagers run the teaching and the day-to-day. Adult advisors handle governance, finance, and safety — they're on the org, not at the front of the room. Sessions happen in structured group settings, not unsupervised one-offs.

Young, and we'd rather you know that than oversell it. What's real today: 11 countries signed up, $10.5K in committed grants, and 10 Bay Area chapters forming. International delivery has been online so far — we're scaling carefully, not faking scale.

It flexes. A workshop is a single hands-on session. A student who continues into a class or a mentored project commits to a regular weekly rhythm. Nobody is locked into anything: your kid can do one workshop and stop, or go all the way to a funded build.

We bring the youth teachers, the curriculum, and the build materials. You provide the students, a room or a video setup, and a staff contact who helps us schedule. There's no cost to the school.

Online so far. We're a young org and we've delivered our international workshops over video while we build toward in-person. We'll always tell you exactly what a session looks like before you commit your students' time.

Reach out through the Partner page. We'll talk through your students, your setup, and a first workshop. We start small — one workshop, see how it lands — before scaling anything.

A youth teacher is a GSV student who teaches — you apply through the Join page. A teacher is an adult on staff at a partner school we serve, and they come in through the Partner page. Two different doors, easy to mix up.

Yes. Youth teachers join from anywhere and run workshops and live classes over video. You don't need to be local, and you don't need to be a senior — you need to know the material and be able to hold a room.

No. You need to be a few steps ahead of your students and willing to prep. We give you the curriculum and the build; you bring the energy. Teaching one thing well beats knowing ten things vaguely.

Into programs: build kits, project grants, mentorship, and the platform that runs it all. $40 buys the kit for one young builder; $1,500 funds a standout team from idea to working build. See the transparency page for the full breakdown.

Yes. GSV is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. You'll get a written acknowledgment for your records.

Up to $1,500 to a winning team, split 50% on signing and 50% at the demo. The structure is deliberate: money tied to shipping, not just to a good slide deck.