AWARDS APPLICATIONS – 2007
BEACH HAVEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL – BEACH HAVEN, NJ
The Beach Haven Elementary School, grades second through sixth, have undertaken several projects to help make New Jersey a cleaner and greener place to live. The teachers of Beach Haven Elementary School hope, with these efforts, to instill the value of the environment in their students.
Among these projects are adopting local storm drains, through the Alliance of a Living Ocean, on which they stencil no dumping messages and blue crabs. They check and clean them when necessary. They also plant dune grass annually to help combat dune erosion and the 6th grade students have planted eelgrass and installed fencing barriers to slow erosion on nearby Mordecai Island.
They also participate in beach cleanups and recycle plastic, batteries and 6-pack rings in their school.
The students have maintained a schoolyard habitat/garden and fishpond by weeding and planting without pesticides or herbicides. They grow herbs, flowers and milkweed for the annual fall migration of monarch butterflies, which they also help tag in participation with the University of Kansas Monarch Watch tag and release program.
They haven’t stopped there; they also celebrate Earth Day by weeding, pruning and planting shrubs and trees around their school grounds and have visited the Atlantic City Wind Farm, Wastewater treatment plants and the county recycling center.
The 5th and 6th graders create a “living museum” every other spring, filled with research projects, displays, power point presentations and the flora and fauna of their unique Long Beach Island ecosystem. And the 3rd graders create posters, write petitions, letters and e-mails to government officials pertaining to global warming. They also have held a community meeting with their local mayor.
BRIGANTINE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT COUNCIL – BRIGANTINE, NJ
The students at Brigantine Elementary School in Brigantine, NJ, range in age from 8 to 10 years old.
They recognized that the school had no classroom policy concerning recyclable materials, so they researched and contacted the Atlantic County Utilities Authority
to organize an Elementary school recycling program. They started the program by placing recycling containers in every classroom and other accessible areas. Each student has a rotating assignment as a recycling ambassador to each area and they collect the recyclable materials from the classrooms on a weekly basis. They also hand out materials and information pertaining to litter and recycling programs.
Another project undertaken by the students was an early morning road cleanup to help kick off the Brigantine Clean Communities 2007 campaign. They have adopted a neighborhood sidewalk area located within the perimeters of the school. Some of the students volunteer for the summer beach cleanup program.
Through their dedication and efforts they have created a city-wide awareness for litter and recycling programs, and send a message to the entire student body, parents and citizens to come join in the fun of recycling and litter cleanup.
ELDRIDGE PARK SCHOOL – PRE-K CLASS – LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, NJ
This project was undertaken by 4 and 5 year old students at Eldridge Park School in Lawrence Township, NJ. With the help of their teacher, Amy Hnasko, they have organized an ongoing plastic bottle collection program throughout the entire school for the past two years.
The students have collected 20 ounce plastic bottles which they sort and count and then pack and ship to TerraCycle, a local company, which reuses the bottles in which to sell organic plant food. They pay the “bottle brigadiers” a few cents for each bottle, which is, in turn, donated to “The Nature Conservancy/Earth’s Birthday Project”. The donated money has been enough to protect .15 acres or orangutan habitat in Borneo.
The classes, over the past two years, have prepared numerous presentations about the process for the school news program, and have created their own posters to describe what they are doing. They understand that the bottles are being reused for something worthwhile and important and it shows that even very young children can have a large and lasting impact on the environment.
P.S. #14 C.R.A.B. CLUB – BAYONNE, NJ
With the help of an Environmental Education grant from PSE&G for the past two years, seventh graders and their teacher, Barbara DeBenedictis, developed a program called C.R.A.B. (Caring for our Rivers and Bays) Club.
The goal of the program is for the students to become aware of the history and importance of the waterways and to realize and practice their roles as stewards of the water and environment. The C.R.A.B. Club has several objectives. The students identify parts of the watershed and explain what types of human activity has polluted the system and how the watershed is linked to our daily lives. They clean up the area surrounding test sites and have been involved in demonstrating proper safety procedures, correct use of water testing equipment and chemicals and the proper field-testing techniques as they conduct water quality tests, shoreline cleanups and plant and animal surveys. They have access to three bodies of water, all of which have suffered the effects of urban pollution, including Newark Bay and the Kill van Kull.
This club has offered the students the opportunity to become actively involved in efforts to clean and protect the nearby waters. As they study the watershed, explore the history of their community, learn about the importance of wetlands, test the water quality and observe and record the kinds of wildlife that have made a home in the community, they realize their place in this eco-system and the need to take care of it.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS MIDDLE SCHOOL – CLIFTON, NJ
The middle school students undertook a school beautification project in 2006-2007 to improve the appearance and create landscaping with a “Diversity Garden”. This garden features perennials and annuals and it is the students’ hope that despite its roadside setting, motorists and passersby will choose not to litter and will enjoy the beauty of this creation.
They took a former storage area outside the building and cleaned, organized, and planted the garden. It is now a place to hold poetry readings and botanical learning walks. Art students have painted the rocks in vibrant colors and personalized them with character traits that represent the Character Education Club. An enormous mural will be completed to serve as a backdrop for the newly planted perennials and shrubs.
The students maintain both gardens and plan mini fund raisers to raise money and awareness in the community to fund future beautification goals.
WILLIAMSTOWN MIDDLE SCHOOL - WILLIAMSTOWN, NJ
These middle school students have learned about non-point source pollution and its relationship to clean watersheds. They recognize their stewardship role in keeping their school, home and community free from trash and have launched a public education campaign.
The campaign includes such projects as recruiting volunteers for an Adopt-A-Spot program; planting native gardens on school property with the assistance of the Gloucester County Soil Conservation; and manning an educational exhibit at the WMS expo informing the public of the issues surrounding non-point source pollution and the new single stream recycling program being implemented in Monroe Township.
They have also sponsored a used battery collection within the school and hold drives to collect used newspapers for recycling. They also created an electronic power point presentation on their program to be shared with all the teachers in the school in order to reach every student.
ELEANOR VAN GELDER SCHOOL – EDGEWATER, NJ
The fourth graders at the Eleanor Van Gelder School participated in an annual school-wide cleanup and beautification project. The 60 students learned about preserving their local community grounds and also about global awareness of environmental issues. They learned about waste management, local recycling laws and the consequences of human actions. Along with the cleanup of the school grounds, they created posters asking others not to litter. All in all, the students have learned how to “think globally, act locally”. This will hopefully change the attitude that causes littering, not only among the students but in the community at large.
FRANK R. CONWELL MIDDLE SCHOOL #4 – GARDENING CLUB/GREEN TEAM – JERSEY CITY, NJ
A gardening club of middle school students was implemented at this newly opened school in order to beautify the grounds. Twenty students and several teachers dug and prepared designated areas for the planting of trees and flowers. The students of the Gardening Club also maintain the grounds.
Also, the school has implemented a recycling program called the Green Team. It is comprised of student volunteers who recycle all cans and bottles during the lunch periods. After the students go around to each table collecting cans and bottles, they sweep the floors in the cafeteria.
These students have made a major contribution to the environment and beautification of the school. These are ongoing programs and all students are encouraged to participate.
CLIFTON HIGH SCHOOL CONSERVATION CLUB – CLIFTON, NJ
The Conservation Club, with assistance from the Environmental Science classes, worked to create and maintain Peace Gardens. The task included weeding, planting, transplanting, mulching and watering. The school now enjoys an American flag of annuals, a bird sanctuary, clematis ascending upon the gazebo and wisteria climbing over an arbor.
Bird feeders are stocked with seeds and suet during the winter months and the shrubs provide shelter.
The drama class collaborated with members of the Conservation Club to perform skits associated with the theme of “reduce, reuse, recycle”. Members of one of the groups used recycled items to put on a fashion show. The clothes they wore were made from recycled papers and food wrappers. The runway was made of used aluminum cans retrieved from the cafeteria’s garbage cans.
OAKCREST HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE CLUB – MAYS LANDING, NJ
The Science Club instituted a successful recycling program for the high school called “The Blue and Grey Go Green”. Within the first week they had recycled over one ton of paper waste.
With the encouragement from the Atlantic County Utility Authority and support from the school district and administrators, the program was undertaken by the Science Club whose passion for the environment was the momentum needed to restore an old recycling program.
The students distributed and supplied each room in the school with recycling cans to separate paper and trash from cans and bottles. Signs were created to inform the general school population about “what goes where”.
The interest generated by the Science Club has prompted students not involved to suggest ideas to improve the program.
The Science Club also participates in road cleanups on campus and are interested in seeing the impact the recycling program will have on refuse around the school. They participated in a storm drain stenciling activity aimed at discouraging citizens from pouring oil and toxic liquids down storm drains.
NJ TAE KWON DO FOR YOUTH FOUNDATION and D.U.E.T. – JERSEY CITY, NJ
The D.U.E.T. (Determining Urban Environments Today) is made up of volunteers who are employees of Public Service Electric & Gas Company, who teach children that if they want a better urban environment, it comes down to each individual and the immediate world around them.
They began working with students of the NJ Tae Kwon Do for Youth Foundation from some of Jersey City’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods that are significantly marked by vacant lots and abandoned buildings. They have cleaned up four vacant lots; participated in a cleanup of Jersey City’s Ercell Webb Park; cleaned a Hackensack playground and recreational fields and filled holes with soil in a Bayonne park so children playing would not twist their ankles and knees.
Other activities the students have been involved in include filling depressions that collected water and became breeding grounds for mosquitoes, cleaned the Kill Van Kull shoreline and cleaned the area near Liberty State Park Historic Railroad Terminal. They also removed debris from North Bergen recreational fields before the track and field championships of the Hudson County Special Olympics.
These activities have taught the children that there are positive options to pursue and that they can create a better world around them by the simplest of environmental actions.
MC DIVITT SCHOOL – OLD BRIDGE, NJ
A fourth grade teacher, Vicki Broder, applied for a Middlesex County Environmental Award and started a paper patrol and the McDivitt School Environmental Club for 4th graders. The goal was to see how many trees they could save by recycling paper.
The response was 48 students who meet each week during lunch and pick up recycling containers. They weigh the containers, empty them and chart the recycling per class for the week.
The school recycled over 9,000 pounds of paper from December through June. They planted nine evergreen trees on school property to represent the trees that were saved by recycling
To celebrate, they created a bumper sticker contest and the winning sticker was printed. They also learned about storm water during Earth Week last year. |
