Green School

An introduction from the editor...
We strive to incorporate sustainability into our programs each year.  Currently, we keep bees.  We compost after lunch.  We encourage carpooling.  We attend seminars, have discussions, and read literature that explores environmental friendliness.  Our biofuel friends down the street (SeQuential Biofuels) give us a discount on our gas.  Students learn in Oak Hill's classrooms and on Oak Hill's campus that we are all stewards of a global community and that every person makes a difference; whether that difference is positive is up to each of us.

And here's some more about being green.  Who better to tell you about how Oak Hill strives to be green than our students...

Green School
by Jane Choe (Class of 2015) and Clarae Smith (Class of 2015) with help from Sorin Miller and the Green School Committee

Oak Hill School achieved Green School Status in 2007. How? First, a small group of concerned and interested teachers and parents formed a committee to decide how our school could reduce, reuse and recycle stuff better than in the past. We decided to begin by teaching students how to use the recycling bins on campus and in the classrooms, recycle and compost our lunch scraps and waste, and how to pack a waste-free lunch.

Then, the "Green School" committee was successful in writing a grant that helped us along the way in achieving Green School status. The grant allowed us to demonstrate how we recycle many things that normally would be thrown away, such as paper, plastic, food scraps, and used computer hardware. Also, Oak Hill was successful in building a new classroom building that uses less energy and more natural light than a normal building. Students and faculty (teachers) are helping to reduce the amount of energy we use on campus by switching off lights that are not in use, and by recycling paper, plastic, and coffee grounds.

One of the goals of the "Green School" committee for this year is to design and build worm composting bins to help us recycle food scraps more efficiently. We hope to add lots of worms to help break down the food into new soil for our garden beds all around campus. This will also allow us to keep food scraps out of the garbage cans!

Fifth grade has been doing recycling since forever. It had been very long time that its almost like a school tradition. They split into 2 groups, 1 for upper school and 1 for lower school. Fifth graders go around all the classrooms and collect recycling paper and plastic. They put collected recycling paper and plastic into a big recycling bin. They take out that bin once every week.

We all can make small changes to help the earth, such as recycling paper instead of throwing it away, or bringing a cloth napkin in our lunch instead of a paper one. Each time we make a choice such as this we benefit the earth.

Next: Educating the Whole Person