Leonardo DiCaprio will fund scholarships and climate change programs at the UCLA-based elementary school where he was a student in the 1980s.
Leonardo DiCaprio will fund scholarships and a climate education program at the UCLA Lab School, which currently serves 450 students ages 4 to 12. DiCaprio attended the Lab School when he was young thanks to ‘generous contributions’ from donors that ‘profoundly transformed his worldview.’ DiCaprio’s scholarship fund will benefit the 40 percent of students who need financial aid — and hopes to help maintain the diversity the school seeks.
Leonardo DiCaprio will fund scholarships and climate education programs at the UCLA-based elementary school where he himself was a scholarship student.
The Leonardo DiCaprio Scholarship Fund and Climate Justice Education Program are set to begin in the upcoming school year at the UCLA Lab School.
DiCaprio said in a statement to The Associated Press, ‘I was fortunate enough to attend the Lab School thanks to generous contributions from UCLA donors, and my experience has profoundly transformed my worldview.
‘I am proud to have the opportunity to offer my experience to those who might otherwise miss this opportunity, and to help create a program that will help guide the next generation of climate warriors.’
Leonardo DiCaprio will fund scholarships and climate education programs at the UCLA-based elementary school where he himself was a scholarship student.
The school aims to provide innovative teaching techniques for its students – aged between 4 and 12 – so that outside teachers can come to study.
DiCaprio’s scholarship fund will give his students who need financial aid, which he received as a child when he attended the school in the 1980s, and help the school maintain the diversity it seeks. About 40 percent of its students need financial aid.
‘This scholarship fund will give many kids access to the UCLA lab school, just like Leo had,’ said Dr. Eric Esraelian, a professor in UCLA’s Department of Health Sciences and a longtime friend of DiCaprio’s.
The new and differentiated climate education program will seek to teach students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade about the science behind climate change and the policies and leadership needed to address it.
The school intends to use its location to become a hands-on site for environmental education, next to a creek in the middle of redwoods on the Los Angeles University campus.
DiCaprio’s scholarship fund will benefit the 40 percent of students who need financial aid — and hopes to help maintain the diversity the school seeks.
DiCaprio (left) benefited from financial aid when he attended school in the 1980s – just a few years earlier in 1978 when he was pictured with his half-brother Adam Ferrer (right).
On the Los Angeles University campus, next to a creek in the middle of the redwoods, the school has tried to use its location to become a hands-on site for environmental education.
DiCaprio, 48, has long been an outspoken advocate for tackling the climate crisis.
The program, Israelian said, will ‘position children – in lab school and beyond – for more sustainable and healthy lives for themselves and our planet.’
Grant amounts behind the programs were not disclosed, but officials said Generations students will be recipients.
‘Expanding access to high-quality education and helping young people recognize the need to protect our planet are important goals for our institution,’ UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement.
DiCaprio, the Oscar-winning star of ‘Titanic’, ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’, ‘The Revenant’ and ‘The Departed’ will next appear in ‘Killer of the Flower Moon’ directed by his regular collaborator Martin Scorsese. .