Elora Public School has received a silver-level Eco Certification from Ontario Eco Schools thanks to some hardworking Grade 5 and 6 students.
The program, created in 2002, encourages elementary school students across the province to develop environmentally-friendly practices in their classrooms.
Grace Phillipps, 12, and Natalie Doran, 11, have been the leaders of the “Green Griffins” in their Grade 5/6 class this year, coming up with goals for the future and initiating many of the projects that earned Elora the title.
One of the projects was a “Turn Out the Lights” campaign that encouraged classes to switch their lights off during lunch hour.
Getting in the habit of composting was also a focus for the girls. Each classroom was given a compost bucket and they plan to use what they’ve collected in the new garden planted in front of the school.
They also completed a “garbage audit” which was no small feat.
“We collected all the garbage from the whole school and took it down to the front foyer and we sorted all the stuff and weighed how much garbage we had,” Doran says.
Phillipps said the exercise was helpful in determining what they were doing wrong in terms of disposal practices and what they could do to improve.
“It helps us decide what we need to change in our school. Last year we weren’t recycling enough, so milk cartons and a lot of the compost went into the garbage,” she says.
“That’s kind of how everything changes, when we find out what people are putting into the garbage.”
Though the Green Griffins project was originally aimed specifically at the Grade 5 and 6 classes, Phillipps and Doran see themselves taking on a leadership role next year to help younger students continue what they started.
“Doing this makes everyone feel important and makes us feel better,” Phillipps says. “I like to think about the future a lot, so when I grow up I don’t want it to be a lot different because I like Earth how it is now.”
There were 1,745 eco-certified schools in the province with 53 participating boards.
