Actor Leonardo DiCaprio will fund scholarships and a climate education programme at the UCLA-based elementary school where he was once a scholarship student, the actor and the college said. The Leonardo DiCaprio Scholarship Fund and the Climate Justice Education Program are set to begin in the forthcoming school year at the UCLA Lab School.
In a statement, the American actor said, "I was fortunate enough to attend the Lab School due to the generous contributions of UCLA donors, and my experience profoundly transformed my worldview," as stated in a report by the Associated Press. "I am proud to have the chance to pass on my experience to those who might otherwise miss out on this opportunity, and to help create a program that will help guide the next generation of climate warriors," he said.
"The school aims to provide innovative educational techniques for its students, whose ages range from 4 to 12, that outside teachers can come to study," he added. DiCaprio's scholarship fund will give its students who need financial aid, which he got as a child when he went to the school in the 1980s and will help the school to maintain the diversity it seeks.
"About 40 per cent of its students need financial help. This scholarship fund will provide many children access to UCLA Lab School, just as Leo had," said Dr Eric Esrailian, a professor in UCLA's Health Sciences department and a longtime friend of DiCaprio. The new and separate climate education programme will seek to teach students from pre-Kindergarten through sixth grade about the science behind climate change and about the policy and leadership needed to address it, he added.
The school has sought to use its location, next to a creek amid redwoods on the Los Angeles University campus, to become a hands-on site for environmental teaching, as stated in a report by the Associated Press.
DiCaprio, 48, has long been an outspoken advocate for addressing the climate crisis. Esrailian said the programme "will position children both at the Lab School and beyond for a more sustainable and healthy life for themselves and for our planet." Additionally, the amount of donations behind the programmes was not made public, but officials said generations of students will be the recipients.
"Expanding access to high-quality education and helping young people recognise the need to protect our planet are critical 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 Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by his frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese, as stated in a report by the Associated Press.
