King County celebrates local schools' 'Earth Heroes'

Environmental stewards to be honored for significant contributions

King County Executive Ron Sims will honor students, teachers, school staff and volunteers for their significant actions on behalf of the environment as winners of “Earth Heroes at School” awards. The ceremony is set for April 19 at the Maplewood Greens banquet facility in Renton.

“Our ‘Earth Heroes at Schools’ have dedicated themselves to preserving and protecting our local environment, and to educating young people and others about the importance of being committed stewards of our earth and its resources," Sims said. “I’m proud to recognize their achievements.” 

The “Earth Heroes at School Awards” honors individuals and programs whose values and actions support the region’s environment and high quality of life.

"The passion and commitment of our local heroes to preserve our environmental legacy in King County is an example after which we should model our own actions,” Sims said.  “We are fortunate to have these environmental stewards in our midst.”

The April 19 awards ceremony is set to begin at 4:30 p.m. Maplewood Greens is at 4050 Maple Valley Hwy, Renton. More information about the Earth Heroes at School Program is available by contacting Donna Miscolta at donna.miscolta@kingcounty.gov, or 206-206-4477.

Teachers

Meggan Atkins, Maywood Middle School, Renton
Atkins responded to a need at her school for a recycling program by working with leadership students to develop a collection system, promote the program through posters and educate other students through presentations and announcements. Thanks to these efforts, the school has more than doubled the amount of recycling in one year, resulting in reduced garbage costs for the district.

Gabrielle Herring, Diane Parham, Leslie Smith, Endeavor Elementary School, Issaquah
This team of teachers developed the Endeavor Outdoor Elementary Classroom, turning an overgrown hillside and bioswale into a learning resource for the school and community. This project brought community businesses, volunteers, the Boy Scouts, district administrators, parents and students together in the common cause of environmental restoration.

Angie Laulainen, Karen Dunning and Environmental Club, Rose Hill Junior High School, Redmond
These teachers and students developed a comprehensive and effective recycling program for cans, bottles and paper, plus printer cartridges, cell phones and handheld devices. Laulainen, Dunning and the students have consistently come up with new ways to promote recycling that are fun and educational.

John Schmied, Skyview Junior High School, Bothell
Schmied not only came up with the idea of establishing an environmental learning center in the woods adjacent the school, but he also served tirelessly as the project manager – coordinating the work of 500 students and 60 parents in building trails, removing invasive plants and planting native ones. Students can learn firsthand about wetland building, sustainable forestry, and water flow and water quality.

Scott Weide, Cascade Middle School, Auburn
Weide’s passion to preserve Pacific Northwest natural resources led him to focus his curriculum on local issues relevant to his students, such as the Olson Creek salmon habitat restoration project. He led his students in restoring nearly 200 feet of Olson Creek riparian areas with native plant species, while collecting cuttings and seeds to repopulate the school’s nursery for future use.

Maggie Windus, Juanita Elementary School, Kirkland
Realizing a need to improve the recycling program at her school, Windus involved students in collecting recyclables from the classrooms, expanded the program to include bottles and cans, and was instrumental in adding food waste to the collection system. Her students learned how to plan, start and promote a recycling program, and learned how their efforts were related to other environmental issues.

Elizabeth Wing and students, Carnation Elementary School, Carnation
In addition to fully integrating environmental education into her classroom lessons, Wing involves her students in recycling activities and in maintaining two gardens that serve as outdoor classrooms for the entire school. Wing’s approach to teaching and her passion for environmental education has inspired her students and parent volunteers to take on other stewardship projects.

Students

Clara Manahan, Philip Park, Teal Stannard, West Woodland Elementary School, Seattle
These students were leaders in establishing West Woodland as the third school in the Seattle School District to have a lunchroom composting and recycling program. They conducted research and shared their findings with the rest of the school; they designed a lesson plan to teach other students how to sort materials for composting, recycling and disposal, and they monitored for quality control.

Kirsten Minor, Taryn Grant, Pauline Lau, Lake Washington High School, Kirkland
These three students took the initiative to increase recycling awareness and participation when they discovered that many recyclables were ending up in the trash.  They recruited other students, developed a collection plan, obtained recycling containers, created promotional and educational posters and started a classroom competition to get students excited about recycling. Their leadership and enthusiasm has had a significant impact on the school.

Marielle Price, Rose Smith, and the Earthbound Club, Bellevue High School, Bellevue
Co-presidents Price and Smith have built the Earthbound Club membership to nearly 30 students, and were instrumental in organizing a symposium on climate change for their classmates and the community. The Earthbound Club hosted nearly 100 people at “Who Turned Up the Heat?” The club, with teacher Ted Cox as advisor, has continued to tackle issues such as increasing recycling efforts and getting involved in local environmental projects.

Programs

Apollo Elementary School Recycling Program, Issaquah
This successful recycling program has reduced the flow of lunchroom waste to the landfill by 50 percent and increased the volume of recyclables collected by 30 percent.  Lead custodian Mike Engren organized the lunchroom to allow easy implementation of the program. Teacher Karen DeBrueler and her students provided educational and promotional messages to ensure participation, and the cafeteria staff assists students on a daily basis to sort the waste properly.

Chautauqua Elementary School Multi-age 1,2,3 Program, Vashon Island
Teachers Glenda Berliner, Tina Taylor and Gerie Wilson and their students are the dedicated caretakers of the Chautauqua Kid’s Garden. The garden serves as an outdoor classroom where students design science experiments, learn to produce food, and share the bounty of the garden with the food bank. Students also collected seeds from the garden, enclosed them in hand-made packages and sold them, with proceeds going to help the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

Explorer West Middle School Sustainability Initiative, Seattle
The sustainability initiative integrates curriculum and experience into a unique school culture of decision and action. In the classroom, science, global studies, English and math courses all connect in some way to the earth as an integrated system.  The school’s outdoor education includes “leave no trace” wilderness practices; green campus components of composting, recycling and native plant gardening; and an annual sustainability festival.

Laurelhurst Elementary School Lunchroom Composting and Recycling, Seattle
Thanks to the efforts of the fifth-grade students and teachers, lunchroom garbage at Laurelhurst Elementary has been reduced by 88 percent. The fifth graders trained the other students how to separate their lunch waste for composting and recycling.  Teachers Pat Howard, Grace Dubin, and Kristin Capps and parent volunteer Mindy McGovern all contributed significantly to establishing the program, which has demonstrated to the community that teamwork can have an impact on our environment.

Seattle Country Day School K-3 Division, Seattle
This elementary school program is the only one in Seattle to adopt three local parks. Students work on various projects such as planting flowers and trees, weeding, spreading mulch, raking leaves and collecting litter at the parks. To increase their understanding of the environment they are helping to care for, they invite guest speakers to talk about the plants and animal life in the park. Each June the third graders make a PowerPoint presentation to the community council.

Secondary Academy for Success Green Team, Bothell
The many projects of these high school students include a forum at which they taught junior high school students about safer alternatives to hazardous products; a garbage study and development of a recycling program at school; and work parties to remove invasive plants and participate in sustainable farming at 21 Acres, an agricultural and environmental learning center in the Sammamish Valley. Program advisers are Judy Ellis, Laurie Nunnelee, and Barbara Wilson.

Sunny Hills Elementary School Recycling Program, Sammamish
The success of this recycling program is the result of exceptional teamwork by Vice Principal Chasma Gerron, lead custodian Marlin Collins, and teachers Regan Schildt and Shelby Lee and their students. Program logistics, promotion, and monitoring tasks were spread among the team so that everyone at the school could participate. The program has reduced garbage costs for the district, improved awareness of the importance of recycling to the environment, and demonstrated the value of teamwork.

Tahoma Outdoor Academy, Tahoma High School, Covington
This program led by teachers Tracy Krause, Mike Hanson, and Jamie Vollrath, integrates science, language arts, health and fitness with outdoor and environmental learning, and provides students with experience stewarding natural resources through restoration and trail work. Students study watersheds, plant identification and general ecology, and apply their knowledge to King County parks.