Congratulations to our 2009 EarthSmart Grant Winners!  

STUDENTS GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Local Schools Combine Classroom Learning With Hands On
Projects That Help Our Environment.

Seven schools from Sunriver to Prineville received grants this past school year to reduce waste and conserve resources through classroom projects.

BHS recycling bin being painted by art students.

From two dozen new worm composting and recycling bins to the native landscaping, schools have reduced waste and water use while increasing hands on education opportunities for their students.  The annual EarthSmart Grants are offered through the Environmental Center.

This year, a total of $2500 was awarded from the Environmental Center to support waste reduction and resource conservation projects led by Three Rivers Elementary, High Lakes Elementary, Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council’s, Bend High School, St. Francis School, Terrebonne Community School and Cecil Sly Elementary.  The EarthSmart Grants are part of the center’s youth education program.  

“We’ve had the privilege of support from EarthSmart to give our staff and students a chance to live in a way that’s essential for our future,” states Jim Bates, principal of Cecil Sly Elementary in Prineville.  It is estimated that with the 15 additional recycling bins Cecil Sly was able to purchase that over 500 gallons of waste is now being diverted form the landfill.  Bend Senior High School will also be recycling more as a result of the efforts of senior Skyler Nelson and the BHS Environmental Club, who spearheaded a new student-built and artistically painted recycling station for their commons area.

Other schools have gone beyond traditional recycling programs to incorporate classroom worm composting bins to recycle fruit and veggie waste into rich compost.  For local educators worm composting not only provides a way to reduce waste but enriches the class with hands on projects.  “Everyday is Earthday in our EarthSmart class” says one student at Terrebonne Community School, where 6 classes have worm bins. Students here have participated in a variety of reading, writing and math activities associated with worm composting.  In addition to lunch waste the school‘s shredded paper is added to the bins as bedding.   The custodian estimates the school has reduced its garbage by 10 bags a week.   Teacher Diane McIntosh comments “My kids really think about being wise users of Earth resources now!”

Fourth graders at High Lakes Elementary in Bend also became worm composting experts after maintaining their own new classroom worm bin.  Teacher Jen Healy states “Students were taught about the worms and how to keep them healthy and productive.  Then, the students taught other kids about the bin when they visited our classroom.”  She expects that several teachers plan to maintain worm bins next school year.

Schools are also thinking beyond their classrooms with plans to take their rich worm castings to fertilize school gardens in the future.  Three Rivers Community School in Sunriver began with 3 stacking worm bins funded through the EarthSmart grants.  With strong support from their nutrition and custodial departments they have plans to expand their successful composting project.  Educator Jamie Hill says “Your grant has given our students an important venue for authentic science explorations, particularly learning how worms help the environment, and what actions people can take to become good environmental stewards.  Our worms have inspired us to divert more of our compostable waste from the landfill by expanding our composting efforts and planting a garden”.  

St. Francis School in Bend reduced its lunch waste as well by promoting a school wide Waste Free Lunch Day and building worm composting bins.  They hope to expand their program in the future to connect school curriculum at each grade level with hands on opportunities in a school greenhouse.

For students in the Work Education Program at COIC (Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council) in Bend the grant meant a lot of hard work.  14 students put in almost 1000 hours tearing out the non-native and invasive plants on their school grounds and replacing it with drought tolerant and native landscaping they researched and designed.  Their goal was to reduce water use in the landscape and create an environment on campus that fit into the natural High Desert landscape.  The new plants allowed them to cut the irrigation lines by 50%, and the ground makeover had some unintended benefits. “The Work Education Program has had the landscaping contract at COIC for a year and a half now and has been merely maintaining the landscape in that time.  This grant gave the students the opportunity to take responsibility for their surroundings.  As a result we see significantly less trash on school grounds and the Work Education students are respected by their peers for their hard work” states project coordinator Roger Brubaker.

For more information, please click here to contact EarthSmart.

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