Eco-friendly schools rewarded for efforts
Posted Jun 17, 2010 By Charelle Evelyn
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EMC News - Six east end schools have been recognized for their efforts to make their communities greener places.
Charelle Evelyn, Orleans EMC
St. Theresa Catholic School is continuing to show they've earned their gold EcoSchool status by digging holes to plant new trees in their yard. From left: Gabriel Johnson, Tuck Davies, Sebastian Lionais, Téa Agtarap, Irene Powidajko and Kyle Botelko.
Chapel Hill Catholic, St. Theresa, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Lester B. Pearson, Brother André and Our Lady of Wisdom were recently certified - along with 14 other schools in the Ottawa Catholic School Board - as Ontario EcoSchools.
An EcoSchool certification recognizes a school for its environmental initiatives, awarding the school gold, silver or bronze status depending on how fully the school has met the requirements of the program.
The schools must demonstrate achievement in four key areas: energy conservation, waste minimization, ecological literacy and school ground greening.
Both St. Theresa and Chapel Hill were awarded gold status this year.
"This was our first year," said Cindy Simpson, principal at St. Theresa.
The school's green team was made up of students in the primary and junior divisions and were led by teachers Irene Powidajko, Andrea Muschinske, Erin Forman and Meghan Daunt.
To earn their gold star, the school stepped up their pre-existing environmental activities. During lunch hours, the Grade 3 recycling team would sort recycling bins.
"They would also police teachers and students and let them know if they've contaminated the recycling," Ms. Simpson said.
There was also a Watt Busting team, which patrolled to ensure lights and computers were turned off when they weren't needed.
"We do a lot of things to make sure our carbon footprint is minimized," Ms. Simpson said. "The children were excited that all of their efforts were rewarded with gold."
For Chapel Hill, it was their second year of participating in the program and they managed to move up from their silver rating of last year.
Spearheaded by Lorrie Maw, the school's environmental teacher, Chapel Hill's environmental club is so popular students are only able to participate for one term before they have to switch.
The club meets once a week or more to plant in the yard or check classrooms to turn off lights and computers and make sure garbage is where it belongs, said
Ms. Maw.
Among the school's many environmental actions are the monthly Earth Hours. While the rest of the world turns their lights out for an hour once a year, Chapel Hill does it from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on the last Friday of every month.
"The staff and students are just amazing," said Kathy Kenny, Chapel Hill principal, adding that the school also has had great support from the parent community.
Marilyn Hanley, principal at Blessed Kateri, said she would not have minded moving up a level, but added the school is still proud of receiving a silver certification for a second year.
"We feel a major focus on education today should be to teach kids to take responsibility for the environment and for the earth," she said.
Blessed Kateri students took part in milk carton recycling, composting and litterless lunch programs.
They also continued to green their schoolyard. So far, 19 trees have been planted and students have participated in adding the recently delivered mulch to the planters at the trees' base.
The school is also selling biodegradable green bin liner bags as a fundraiser.
The 20-student green team was essential to reminding the school community about participating in the lunch program and other activities through lunchtime PA announcements.
"They're our ambassadors for the environment," Ms. Hanley said.
For their first time out, Brother André received a bronze designation.
"We're quite excited," said Patricia Phelan, principal at Brother André.
By participating in the program, the school began new programs such as composting and litterless lunches.
The school's Care for Creation club promoted energy conservation and waste management while the Tree Squad assisted the caretakers in watering the schoolyard trees at lunchtime.
Brother André has had a schoolyard greening program for at least three years and has planted 52 trees and created flower and vegetable gardens.
"We trying to make it a big priority school wide and that's what we'll do as we move forward to next year," Ms. Phelan said.
cevelyn@theemc.ca
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