Green School Grants - British Columbia

"Our school does an okay job at recycling," says Steven Brown, the vice principal of EJ Dunn Middle School, in Port Alberni, British Columbia. "However, there is room for improvement. Currently, there's no plastic recycling, and we could step up our recycling of drink boxes significantly. It sends such a terrible message when at home I recycle it, but at school we throw it in the garbage."

Brown isn't the only one at EJ Dunn who's noticed this discrepancy. He's been approached by students from the school's Leadership 8 class, who want to keep drink containers and recyclable plastics out of the landfill by putting more recycling opportunities around the school. They've come up with a plan for recycling stations in 16 core classrooms, and in six more key areas of the school, including the main office and hallways.

But the students don't just want to make recycling at school convenient - they'd like to make it attractive, too. "These students had the idea of using our technology education woodshop to make containers, and having students in our art classes decorate them," says Brown. The grant funds will buy the building materials, from wood to screws and hinges, as well as art supplies, from paint to brushes.

The grant will also cover the cost of materials for hanging hand-made signage, since Brown's team, inspired by the students' approach, has come up with another project component. "We want to have students create works of art that will display our goal of recycling more at school." With the artwork hanging not only in classrooms but 10 other high-traffic locations around the school, it'll be hard to miss that message.

"We live in a small village with a big heart," says Wendy Kelemen, who's a special education teacher at Lakes District Secondary School in Burns Lake, British Columbia. "With a school population that's over 40 per cent aboriginal, we wish to acknowledge and honour this culture by gracing the entrance of our school garden with a sign that reads in Carrier and English: ‘ts'uhoont'i' whusainya ha'nuyeh-un: Welcome to our garden.'"

The school's special needs class will make the sign in woodworking class, using pine beetle wood from the local region. The wood will be paid for with grant funds, as will many other materials, from drain rock and top soil to a wheelbarrow and watering cans. That's because the school is also making the garden itself, from scratch.

"In the spring, we'll start developing the garden area in what is currently a bare courtyard," says Kelemen. "Throughout the journey, my students with special needs will play a key role in assisting in the development." Burns Lake, which is northwest of Prince George, is surrounded by forest but, according to Kelemen, few families in the village have their own garden, and all food is bought at a grocery store.

"By developing a school garden, our students will gain hands-on experience in planting, digging, watering, and cultivating," says Kelemen. "As they work cooperatively, the students will increase their life skills and their respect for the envrionment." Kelemen says the school is expecting an outpouring of support from the village, which they'd like to repay. "We are hopeful that, with tender loving care, the fruits of our labour will be a bountiful harvest to share with the community."

Our Lady of the Assumption elementary school in Port Coquitlam, outside Vancouver, has an enviable location, on a waterfront frequented by wildlife in search of salmon. However, according to grade 7 teacher Monique Haywood, this creates an issue for the school's recycling program.

"We've made positive steps to reduce, reuse, and recycle," Haywood explains. "We've established paper and drink-carton recylcing and all classes are enthusiastically committed to doing their own sorting. This has reduced our garbage, but we still have plenty of green waste - especially paper towels used to dry hands and wipe desk tops." Haywood knows the logical thing to do with that waste is compost it - and that's where the school needs a little help.

"Because we border the Coquitlom River," says Haywood, "we cannot use outdoor composting, due to bears, racoons, and rodents." The grant funds will cover an alternative - a full year's rental of four 240-litre locking green waste carts, along with biweekly curbside pick-up by the city.

The school also has a plan for filling those carts, using "classroom catchers," also funded by the grant. "We'll place a six-litre stainless steel pail in each classroom, to be emptied daily by the grade 7 students. The grade 7 student council will teach the classes how to line their catchers with folded newspaper and will be responsible for bringing the green waste carts to the curb for pickup."

Haywood hopes this responsbility will translate into ownership of the project, now and after graduation from the elementary school. Says Haywood, "Ultimately, we hope our students will be so passionate about composting that they will initate a similar program in their high school."

Tofino, British Columbia, is one of eight coastal communities that care for the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The reserve's diverse range of ecosystems provides habitats for many species, including salmon. That's why Wickaninnish Community School in Tofino is expanding its Classroom Salmon Enhancement and Awareness project.

Last year, a member of the local hatchery set up a salmon incubator in the grade 2/3 classroom. "Raising fish from eggs allowed for a long process of classroom learning and discussion about the care of the environment for these natural stocks to continue to exist," says Rebecca Tuck, a staff member at the school. "The students realized how important it is for the water to be clean so that food and oxygen are available to the salmon."

Once they eggs hatched, the students went on a field trip. "They cared for the eggs, then they released the frye into our local Kootowis creek with their own hands," says Tuck, adding that many of the classes have been out to the hatchery during the early months of school to see the salmon return. "They've witnessed the bears, eagles, and other animals in our biosphere that depend on the salmon returning every year."

With the grant funds, Wickaninnish Community School will be able to expand the incubation program to run in three classes. "It is vital that, as young residents of Tofino, our students not only learn about the life cycle of the salmon but also experience it," says Tuck. Since one of the responsibilities of a biosphere reserve is to seek sustainable ways to work with the natural environment, this project is, as Tuck says, "extremely important for the Clayoquot Biosphere."

"The transition from elementary school to secondary disconnects youth from communities and projects they were involved with in elementary school," says Jason Wu. "Often, youth feel powerless to affect change in their lives and communities, especially when dealing with global issues like environmental justice and sustainability."

Jason is speaking from first-hand knowledge: he's a student at Windermere Secondary school in Vancouver. He and fellow student Tiffany Tran, who both belong to Windermere's Leadership Program, are spearheading a project that takes aim at the issue they've identified. "The project is to give students a real-life opportunity to explore, improve, and use their individual and combined agency to make their schools and communities more environmentally just," says Wu.

Grade 11 students from Windermere will make weekly visits to neighbouring elementary schools to lead a series of workshops exploring topics such as recycling and composting, gardening and green space, climate change and energy conservation. The grant funds will pay for hard costs such as compost bins and cold-frame greenhouses, and soft costs such as honorariums for guest speakers.

"Part of feeling powerless comes from a lack of community," says Wu. "Connecting our students to elementary school youth will enrich their sense of empathy. Our students will realize that their actions impact the lives of others, and those others are also amazing individuals with equal worth."

In the spring, the elementary schools will come together to showcase their initiatives, with the grant funding poster board displays. Says Wu, "We'll be creating a network of youth that provides the social framework for continued peer-to-peer environmental justice and action."

"Over the last 10 years, I've worked with my classes to raise awareness about the environmental stewardship of Joseph Creek," says Stewart Wilson. Wilson teaches at Gordon Terrace Elementary School, in Cranbrook, B.C., and, he says, "the creek is Cranbrook's main water source."

In the past, Wilson has taken his students on field trips to pick up garbage and remove noxious weeds from the banks of the creek. Now he wants to take the school's creek stewardship to the next level.

"We hope to involve the whole school in planting native plants in Kinsmen Park, which is in the centre of town," says Wilson. Five years ago, the concrete slabs that had lined the banks of the creek within the park were removed, but Wilson says the amount of planting that was done to replace the concrete was limited due to lack of funding.

With money from this grant, the school will be able to buy native plants. Before planting begins, though, the students will learn why they're doing it. "Returning native plants to the riparian zone in Kinsmen Park is important for the creek's health," says Wilson. "The plant cover will eventually provide a well-developed root system to stabilize the banks and reduce erosion."

Wilson plans to publicize the project in the school newsletter and local newspapers. But he hopes that the project will become its own best advertisement. "As the plants mature, they'll attract wildlife, raising awareness of what a riparian zone should be."

"Our school is located in an important wildlife habitat, surrounded by wild salmon rivers," says Karen McAllister, a parent counsel member at Shearwater Elementary School on Denny Island. About 100 nautical miles north of Vancouver Island, off the coast of British Columbia, Denny Island is in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. The school has 20 students, half of whom are from the Heiltsuk First Nation.

However, says McAllister, despite the proximity of such a pristine natural environment, "local community members are often fearful of wildlife. We get frequent reports, throughout the year, of wildlife in the vicinity of our school. The goal of this project is to educate students, and by extension the local community, about co-existence with wildlife."

The school plans to do that by installing eight remote sensor cameras, which the grant funds will buy, on nearby wildlife trails. The idea is to monitor the use of the trails by wolves, bears and other animals. The school will bring in a wildlife biologist to help set up the cameras and train the students in how to use them. The students will also learn how to document and interpret their findings.

"The information will form the basis for a mapping project that considers spatial and seasonal movement of wildlife on the island," says McAllister, adding that the students will present their findings to the community. "Providing a means to understand these animals is an opportunity that is unique to our school, compared to schools in a more urban environment."

"Edgewood is fortunate to be located on the shores of Arrow Lake," says Erika Momeyer, a teacher at Edgewood Elementary School in southwestern British Columbia, "and to have two rivers running through it and be bordered by an interior rainforest."

However, according to Momeyer, "although these ecosystems are easily walked to from anywhere in the community, many students and community members drive to visit these natural areas. They also drive when doing errands."

For the past two years, all 28 students at the school have participated in a weekly fitness walk. "We have seen an increase in endurance," says Momeyer, "and now we'd like to shift the focus of our walks to ecology."

The plan is to have local experts accompany the students on the walks to teach them about native plants, local birds, wildlife tracking and heritage. The grant will fund field guides, binoculars, magnifying glasses, bug boxes, soil and water test kits, rope, bandanas, tarps, radios  everything needed to turn the local ecosystems into safe and fun learning environments.

"Through direct experience, hands-on activities, games and community speakers, students will be inspired to explore their community on foot," says Momeyer. "This will lead to student leadership as they encourage others to walk to places in our community and involve others in taking action to protect our local habitat."

"There is no motivation problem with this type of learning!" Nuala Power, a teacher at Sacred Heart Elementary in Prince George, B.C., says the children at her school have been completely engaged in the gardening project the school started a few years ago.

"We developed an organic school garden where we grow incredible edibles,'" says Power, listing the produce  from raspberries and rhubarb to onions and oregano  the garden has grown.

"The children were very interested in their garden," says Power. "They were delighted to plant seeds, bulbs and seedlings last spring, and we'd like to continue to provide this experience for them and to enhance it by demonstrating a method for the conservation and storage of water and an alternative means of recycling organic waste."

The grant will give the school the means to add water barrels and composters to the garden, and expand from six to 10 raised beds, which are easily tended by the elementary-age students.

Although the project supports many of the learning outcomes that the province prescribes in several subject areas, it also has a number of other benefits, Power says. "Gardening develops patience and observation skills; it is an active and productive hobby; it encourages awareness of the importance of caring for the environment, coping with crop failure and celebrating success."

What with all of that, this is a project whose name "Incredible Edibles" seem well earned.

How many corn seeds can you plant in 20 minutes? Six hundred, if you're the Eco-POWER Green Team of A.R. MacNeill Secondary School in Richmond, B.C.

To kick-start their community garden on school grounds, the Green Team set a goal: 2010 edible plants growing by the end of the school year in June.

"We started with zero," says Michael Wolfe, the environmental science teacher for students in grade 8/9, "but we've become an active club that, in just under a year, has created an edible garden that's a model for our school district " and others."

The Green Team will be investing their grant in fruit trees and shrubs, edible plants and, of course, more seeds for sowing. Though it's still early days, Wolfe says the school and community have begun reaping the rewards of the garden.

"Planting, weeding, and watering are only a few of the regular activities students are already getting familiar with."

Even before people are being fed by its produce, the garden is supplying hands-on learning, inspiring school-wide participation and providing opportunities for leadership, Wolfe says.

The garden is also creating a lasting tradition on school grounds.

"No matter what the plant survival rate is, this has already been a learning experience we want to build on."

"Students and teachers of MacNeill Secondary have been pouring in the congratulations to our Green Team, since the new broke this morning. As we put a close to this school year, we now have reasons to be thankful that the summertime allows us to continue our garden project. The news of this School Grant will keep our Green Team actively purchasing and planting trees and shrubs throughout the summer months, as well are able to purchase tools and more seeds to extend our vegetable growing season, with hopes for successful winter veggies."

"By winning this award, we have a reached a level of confidence that assures us we have project that is supported by the global movement to bring people together, and the Gardens of MacNeill will do just that. We will have student artists create a mural in September to recognize the ComeUnity feel that our school grounds will now support."

"Below are some photos of our school grounds where vegetables and fruit trees will flourish in the years to come. Thank you for making this dream a reality. Let the hands-on work begin." - Michael Wolfe

"Our garden site is at the top of a hill " you can see the ocean and the North Shore Mountains from it," says Linda Porte, the principal of Chemainus Elementary Community School and a founder of the school's GREEN Garden Project.

Chemainus is a seaside community on Vancouver Island, B.C, an area where wilderness and agricultural areas are in close proximity. Not surprisingly, organic, diverse and sustainable growing practices are, Porte says, a goal for an increasing number of people in the valley.

That's why the school's GREEN Garden Project aims to help the community's children become ecologically aware through learning to grow their own nutritious, healthy food from seed to harvest to storage. GREEN stands for Garden, Responsibility, Environment, Engagement, and Networking.

The project started small, with two four-by-eight-foot beds in the ground, but it's growing fast. With the help of this grant, students will be spending many school hours over the next year in their "living lab," tending six raised beds, decorating the fence protecting them, and composting lunchroom leftovers. "They'll learn that their own food scraps will break down to create soil, grow more food, and sustain the garden over time," says Porte.

As an expanding network of family and community members pitch in " including one Korean grandfather who's both a new immigrant and a master gardener -- the children of Chemainus Elementary Community School are working side by side with adults to build a place where everyone can enjoy plants and the pleasure of gardening.

"Chemainus Elementary Community School GREEN garden project team is very excited and pleased that, with the financial support of WWF Green CommUnity, our vision for our garden project can be realized. Our school, families and community are grateful that we can continue working together to build a welcoming space where the pleasures of gardening for food and other plants can be shared and enjoyed."