Every year, teachers from across Massachusetts join The Green Team to integrate environmental education and actions with their students. There many are Eco-Stars out there who do wonders in their school, and we are very grateful for the teachers and students who work to improve our environment. In the 2014-2015 school year, we were pleased to spotlight ELEVEN inspiring schools!
Winchester Public Schools, Winchester, MA
Parent and School Recycling Coordinator Fritzie Nace was recognized by the NRRA (Northeast Resource Recovery Association) as the “2014-2015 School Volunteer of the Year.” She initially got involved with recycling as an involved parent for her two sons’ elementary school. Eventually, she filled an open position on the School Council, during which she organized a volunteer-supported expansion of the school’s recycling program. Under her guidance, the program expanded to recycle plastics, glass, and metal in addition to paper. In her current role as School Recycling Coordinator, she is implementing Winchester’s district-wide recycling program under a MassDEP School Recycling Assistance grant.
Ms. Nace was recognized for going above and beyond to promote recycling – talking to people about its importance and organizing a workshop on “Implementing a School Recycling Program.” Her work extends far beyond normal work hours, which qualifies her as a volunteer recipient of this award. The award was presented at the NRRA School CLUB’s 6th Annual School Recycling Conference and Expo on June 9th in Manchester, NH. This conference provided an opportunity for networking between students, teachers and administrators. It was also a fantastic venue for sharing ideas for recycling education and implementing recycling programs in schools. Congratulations to Ms. Nace and Winchester Public Schools for all their hard work!
Danvers School District, Danvers, MA
Gail Bernard, Program Coordinator of Danvers DPW was recently awarded the Northeast Resource Recovery Association’s “2014-2015 MA School Recycler of the Year” Award. The award was presented at the NRRA School CLUB’s 6th Annual School Recycling Conference and Expo, held on June 9th at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, NH. Danvers ran a successful pilot program in 2012, during which they identified ways to improve school recycling. As a result of the program, they received a MassDEP School Recycling Grant of over $18,000 in 2013 to support expanding school recycling programs district wide with equipment and educational materials. This grant allowed them to design and implement a multi-phase program working with elementary, middle and high school programs through 2015.
One aspect of the program that made it successful was the formation of committees at each school with representatives from all stakeholder groups, including school administrators, teachers, custodians, kitchen staff, parents, public works staff and independent haulers. The schools also took action at every grade level: elementary students developed recycling kits and signed a recycling pledge; middle school students recorded a PSA/skit, labeled bins and created signs; high school students placed bins and signs throughout the school and created recycling teams. Danvers Schools sustain their program objectives through environmental presentations, daily news emails, morning announcements, and fliers. The award recognized their diverse and sustainable programs for all grade levels. Congratulations to Danvers Schools for their commendable recycling efforts!
Lenox High School Evergreen Club, Lenox, MA
Teacher Nina Marks shared some recent highlights from the Evergreen Club: “Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation has awarded a generous grant to restore a butterfly habitat garden in the library courtyard. With additional donations from Project Native, Ward’s Nursery and Sexto Sol Landscaping, we are breaking ground this week and will complete the installation next September. We will be introducing 5 woody and 10 perennial host plants for Swallowtail, Spicebush Swallow Tail, Mourning Cloak and Monarch larvae. The garden will be open to art and English and science classes, as well as to library patrons, and we’ll be documenting the arrival of new insect species to the plantings.”
Hull High School, Hull, MA
Nicole Palermo Cristaldi, PTA Voluteer and Parent coaches the Green Team at Hull High School, who’s students gave a presentation to the School Committee about their school composting and recycling programs. They used equipment provided by us in their presentation! Check out their video below!
Dr. Paul Nettle Middle School, Haverhill, MA
Ted Becker, a teacher at Dr. Paul Nettle Middle School, has been participating in The Green Team for 8 years. This year, Mr. Becker led three separate Green Teams that included 10-12 student volunteers and 2 team captains per team. The Green Teams at Nettle scripted and delivered presentations on how to recycle, the value of recycling, and how the school and community benefit from recycling to 25 different homerooms and classrooms in Grades 5-8. The presentation included an interactive demonstration on proper source separation for recycling. Every Friday morning, Green Team captains read a “Green Recycling Tip of the Day” on the morning announcements in an effort to remind students and staff of Nettle’s commitment to recycling. And on April 25, Mr. Becker coordinated the Plug Pond CleanUp in Haverhill as part of Haverhill Goes Clean Earth Day of Service project, which was attended by 30 students, 5 Nettle Middle School staff, and many parents. Mr Becker and his Green Teams asked all students at Dr. Paul Nettle Middle School to sign their pledge form, securing 310 student signatures—a 50% increase in signed pledge forms for the school since last year!
Congratulations to Ted Becker and Dr. Paul Nettle Middle School’s Green Team on a fantastic year supporting school recycling and increasing fellow students’ environmental awareness! We wish Mr. Becker all the best as he transfers to Haverhill High School, and we hope that another Green Team Champion will step up to lead the Dr. Paul Nettle Middle School in the future!
Sandwich High School, East Sandwich, MA
Over the course of the 2014-2015 school year, Alex Denmark, a senior at Sandwich High School, developed and has been helping implement his school’s recycling program. After completing an independent study during his junior year that focused on recycling, renewable energy and the waste industry, Denmark applied what he learned to implement T.I.R.E.S. (The Initiative for Recycling and Environmental Sustainability) that began as a pilot program in Fall 2014, and will be carried out school-wide by the end of the academic year. Denmark estimates that the school program will recycle 15,000 pounds per year of paper, cardboard, plastic, and metal. For his efforts, Denmark has received a Prudential Spirit of Community Award.
His ability to make it appear as if he has 48 hours in a day when us mere mortals have just 24 hours a day is impressive.”
—Principal Ellin Booras
Congratulations to Alex and Sandwich High School for successfully beginning a recycling program for paper, cardboard, plastics and metal!
Hanover Middle School, Hanover, MA
The Hanover Middle School received 14 recycling containers from THE GREEN TEAM this year. They increased their collection capacity by over 200 gallons for Paper, cardboard, and bottles & cans. When asked about The Green Team program, Teacher and Leader Benjamin Benitez stated:
The Green Team is extremely important to our students, school and community. It teaches a valuable lesson to all involved and is preparing them for the future of generations. We have extremely limited funds to accommodate the new classroom and additional recyclers, this helped out MORE than you can imagine! Thank you so much for helping to provide us an opportunity to procure more bins and give back to our future based on our past.”
Mr Benitez, Hanover Middle School Teacher
Cottage Street School, Sharon, MA
In April of 2015, The Green Team at Cottage Street School in Sharon, led by PTO Officer Crystal Bowman, organized a school-wide clothing and textile recycling event with a textile fundraising group called Bags2School. Bags2School provides every student and their family with a bag and instructions on what materials are accepted for recycling. Bowman distributed the bags to every classroom, and Cottage Street Principal Kevin Madden encouraged students and their families to participate.
Over the course of one week in April, Bowman shared, 3,800 pounds of textiles were collected for recycling, earning $338.00 to support Green Team projects at Cottage Street! We share our congratulations to Cottage Street on a successful collection event!
The Lillian Jacobs School, Hull, MA
The students at Lillian Jacobs School had a busy year with The Green Team. They set up recycling and composting programs, built raised bed gardens and held shoe and textile recycling drives.
“The students are truly loving it! And the teachers love your resources on the website! Thank you!!”
Nicole Palermo-Cristaldi, Lillian Jacobs School Teacher
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, Sudbury, MA
Congratulations to the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School Environmental Club for being named one of the 2014 President’s Environmental Youth Award National Winners by EPA Region 1. The Environmental Club carried out an initiative to encourage reusable water bottles and spread awareness of climate change to fellow students, which involved fundraising to purchase two purified water refilling stations for the school. Through these purchases, the Environmental Club hopes to decrease and eliminate the sale and use of one-use plastic water bottles, and reduce plastic waste generated at the school.
Danvers Public Schools, Danvers, MA
In March, MassRecycle, a statewide non-profit that fosters sustainability by promoting recycling and eliminating waste, presented the Danvers School District with the 2015 K-12 Recycling Award at the MassRecycle R3 Conference held in Quincy. The award recognizes the tremendous work Danvers School District has accomplished developing a recycling program and promoting sustainable practices to students, faculty and staff.
In 2012, the Danvers Department of Public Works conducted a Pilot Elementary School Recycling Program, supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environment Protection (MassDEP). With an $18,000 grant awarded in 2013, the DPW built on that pilot with a multi-phase program within the District that included setting up Recycling Committees and increasing recycling collection containers at each of the seven schools. Student Green Teams at each school are assisting with educational campaigns on the recycling programs, as well as the development of outreach materials on how to successfully participate.
This Program would not have been successful without the hard work of every student, teacher, and administrator in the Danvers Public Schools and the support of the MassDEP. I’m proud to have worked with such an incredible group, and they should be proud of their success!”
Gail Bernard, Danvers Department of Public Works Program Coordinator
Congratulations on winning the MassRecycle award! This is a great success story showing how a town, their schools and MassDEP came together to address and increase waste diversion and bring awareness to the students.
Congratulations to both Eco-Stars and keep up the great work!
