green schools program
Earth day project
CCS Earth day success stories
Teresa C Berrein Elementary School
Students dedicated a Japanese maple tree and bench dedicated to the memory of the late custodian, Mr. David Buchanan. The students also set up raised garden beds on Earth Day.
The Buchanan family was invited to come and share the moment, while green team students planted and watered the tree and gave pictures they had created to the family.
Cape Fear High School
High Schools students from Mrs. Spry's class participated in a campus beautification project by picking up trash, planting flowers outside office windows, and constructing flower beds by the main office. The students enjoyed being outside, learning how to mix soil, arrange and plant a variety of plants and most importantly making a difference on the Cape Fear campus.
Mrs. Rupert's Class at CFHS
Students from the Cape Fear High School Agriculture Academy, Let’s Get Green Committee, and Cargill employees recently celebrated Earth Day by planting azalea bushes at Ashley Elementary, T. C. Berrien Elementary, Alma Easom Primary, and Walker-Spivey High. Students from each of the schools came out eager to help plant the azaleas!
New Century International Elementary School
During the week before Earth Day, teachers were given resources and lessons for teaching about Earth Day and the environment in their classrooms, including the Earth Day Pledge handbook compiled by Sustainable Sandhills. Then, the students at New Century were all invited to take part in a fashion contest by making an outfit out of recycled materials from home and on Earth Day they had a fashion show to show off their eco-fashion talent! They are proud to be a Sustainable Sandhills green certified school. (Pictures to come soon)
Elizabeth Cashwell Elementary School
The tradition of helping students appreciate the environment was on display as students and staff from Elizabeth Cashwell Elementary celebrated Earth Day. Third grade teacher, Jennifer Kuechle shared smiles with her students during the school-wide celebration. Each of Cashwell’s 39 homeroom teachers was awarded a 4 foot Cypress tree to border the newly renovated campus. The purpose was to teach students about taking care of the environment.
Cashwell received lots of help from parents and the community as the trees were donated through grant funding provided by Cumberland County Education Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Kuechle, Goodrich Partners in Giving Plan from Princeton, New Jersey, and Mr. and Mrs. Jason Hill (Cashwell PTA President).
District 7 Elementary School
Jack Golden, better known as Dr. T, recently visited District 7 Elementary School. He spoke at a lively assembly about recycling, reducing, reusing and rethinking and had students and teachers laughing out loud! Dr. T taught everyone the best way to deal with garbage through humor and example. Audience members learned ways to reuse garbage and think about the waste we each are producing every single day. Dr. T challenged the students and staff of District 7 to become "Garbologists" and try to make less trash in the future. District 7 already recycles and is proudly striving to become a green school. Dr. T’s assembly, "Garbage is My Bag", was the perfect motivator for our environmental initiatives!
On May 3, District 7 Elementary was recognized at the monthly facilities board meeting for their efforts in the Go Green Initiative and was presented with its certificate from Sustainable Sandhills as a third-party certified green school.
Sherwood Park Elementary School
First grade students at Sherwood Park Elementary School have been busy this spring! They have been tending to their own vegetable garden. They are growing tomatoes, corn, potatoes, strawberries, and radishes. The students planted the seeds three weeks ago and have been maintaining the garden ever since. The funds for this project were sponsored by North Carolina Zoo Society and the Florence Rogers Charitable Trust. This project engages students in hands-on learning using outside resources to increase student achievement.
Great Job!
How Can You Get Involved?
Early key steps for schools or districts that want to implement the Sustainable Sandhills' Green Schools Program are:
- Recruit a Green Team that includes Parent, Student, Teacher, Administrative and Custodial representatives.
- Look back at least 12 months at your energy and water consumption so you can track how well you're doing in your new green efforts.
- Define a set of achievable objectives - success breeds success!
- Be in touch with us as soon as possible so we can help you succeed!
Please contact Sustainable Sandhills' Executive Director Jon Parsons - via email or call 910-484-9098!
Take our Earth Day Plege!