NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - Students in Drury High School's Summer Transitional Educational Program are spearheading a recycling club in their school that they eventually want to bring downtown.
"There used to be a recycling program but then it stopped," said Oscar Alvarez. "I want to start it back up."
Alvarez, Zack Decker and Joseph Butler are part of one of three groups aiming to make this idea a reality. Their role is to raise awareness to both the city and school through media and spread facts regarding the importance of recycling.
The club aims to fundraise for recycling bins to place with trash bins around the school. Alvarez said the club also needs members willing to collect the items from the bins and bring them to the transfer station. Their also hoping to find a grant or special permit for free dumping.
Beyond the school, the club inspires to raise funds to also add recycling bins downtown
Alvarez said a lot of the inspiration for a recycling program is from the book "Going Blue" by Cathryn Berger Kaye, which focuses on trash in the ocean - masses larger than some states Alvarez said - and other environmental topics.
The program has just two weeks remaining and they hope to have a presentation for Student Council by the end of it.
"We don't have too much time... but we're doing our best to get something out of it," said Max Quinn, a teaching assistant for STEPS and a 2012 Drury High School graduate who returned for the summer from Brown University in Providence, R.I.
Six other students make up the other two groups - one that's working on making a proposal to Principal Amy Meehan and Superintendent James Montepare and another working on a video to present to the school and city.
Molly Meczywor, the coordinator of STEPS, said the course targets to help students during the summer who either need to pass another class to qualify for ninth grade and work towards improving MCAS scores through more hands-on work. Some students are just involved any way with no academic reason.
The students work on various projects at their own will. Some students took on addressing lunch menu needs and conducted surveys figuring out what others want. Another group considered options on how to address stray animals in the area and intend on visiting shelter sites to learn more about how they can help the problem.
These students approached subjects that they'd normally shy away from to access these issues.
For example, one group led by math teacher Brad Botto worked on collecting rain water to supply the school's garden. Botto and his students took measurements to figure out how much water the tank could hold and observed other measurements of the tank before sawing it apart for use.
Meczywor said the 3-week program aims to tap the best of the students' resources and focuses on positive decision making.
This year the program focuses on the STEM - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - studies as well, per usual, community service.
No comments:
Post a Comment