King County seeks nominations for Earth Heroes at School awards

Program recognizes outstanding efforts to educate youth, protect environment

King County wants to honor the very best students, teachers, staff, school volunteers, programs and even entire schools that have contributed to both environmental protection and student environmental education, through the County’s Earth Heroes at Schools awards program.

Nominations for the 2011 Earth Heroes at School are due March 4. Winners will be honored at King County's 10th-annual Earth Heroes at Schools recognition event in April.

"King County wants to recognize the schools and individuals at those institutions that play a vital role in teaching our youth about the importance of environmental stewardship," said King County Executive Dow Constantine.

Recycling, restoring habitat, composting lunchroom waste, and growing pesticide-free gardens are among the many types of projects conducted by students, teachers and others in schools across the county.

Earth Heroes at School honorees last year included:

• Jed Smith, a student at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie, who led the school recycling program for two years. A motivator and role model, Smith encouraged his peers to participate in the program and mentored an underclassman to take over his role upon graduation.
• Jon Nishimura, custodian at Leota Junior High School in Woodinville, who volunteered his time, energy and creativity to help the school reduce energy consumption, educate students on conservation practices and initiate a lunchroom food scrap collection program.
• The Green Team at Martin Sortun Elementary School in Kent, which organized a school-wide education campaign of posters, morning announcements and a lunchroom monitoring system. These actions to promote recycling resulted in an increase in the recycling rate from 20 to 57 percent.
• Joanne Burkett, a science specialist at Sunrise Elementary School in Redmond who led the effort in educating students and staff on proper recycling, initiated a pilot program to collect milk cartons for recycling, supplied each classroom with paper reuse boxes, and started a cell phone recycling program.

In acknowledging the accomplishments of environmental leaders in the school community, the Earth Heroes at School Program hopes to bring attention to their innovation, creativity and dedication and inspire others to adopt similar actions to protect the environment. The program is offered through the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks’ Solid Waste Division.

Earth Heroes can be nominated by colleagues, classmates and the general public. Self-nominations are also encouraged. Nomination forms and the list of 2010 winners can be found at http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/education/earth-heroes.asp, or by calling Donna Miscolta at 206-296-4477.

Related information

Earth Heroes at School

Environmental resources for teachers and students

King County Solid Waste