THE CLASS
THE CLASS
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I took a course titled Community Immersion taught by Mr. Cowin and Mrs. Willams in which I studied the for-profit, non-profit, and government sectors of my local community through the lens of systems thinking. Throughout the class, we met many different people who played important roles in the community. Many of them related to the health and well-being of the environment, which influenced my project.
THE LANDFILL
THE VISION STATEMENT
Our class decided that, with systems thinking, we could reduce the amount of waste created at our school campus. Because we were a new school, any waste reductions we made through strategic improvement projects in the first year would scale as the school grew. We believed our impact could be significant in just over a few years.
OUR RESEARCH
We researched the best practices for reducing and recycling which led us to brainstorm ways to apply those practices to our school.
Stakeholders
Stakeholders
We determined who our stakeholders were. We then surveyed them to determine their commitment and interest in our possible projects.
We determined who our stakeholders were. We then surveyed them to determine their commitment and interest in our possible projects.
Survey
Survey
Survey results
Survey results
We determined which projects would have the greatest impact and desirability with the lowest effort/cost to implement.
We determined which projects would have the greatest impact and desirability with the lowest effort/cost to implement.
Creating a Baseline
Creating a Baseline
To know if we met our goal, we had to determine a baseline for the amount of trash created daily. After learning about sampling processes, we decided to sort and weigh the trash twice a week for 10 weeks to create a baseline.
Green Goals
Green Goals
Mr. Cowin and Mrs. Willams both instructed us to find a way to reduce the amount of trash that ends up at the landfill. With such a big task we started with just the school's waste to the landfills and how we would reduce just our waste. My partner Whitney and I started on a compost project that we hope will reduce our food waste and other brown recyclables considering that we produce mass amounts as a school and committee. As well as the soil we make we can put back into the committee making it a huge green cycle for our school, and community.
What we did to help
What we did to help
There was our progress trackers and our step by step instructions on where we started how we got there and where we finished
What about the later
What about the later
Once we get more students in the school we will end up having to move the compost bin as well as either get another one or get a bigger one. Since the back walk way is very public and the compost doesn't smell very well the bigger we grow the more compost we get and the smeller it gets.
My Leadership Role
My Leadership Role
I was responsible for co-leading a project to create a compost system. First, we had to research how to compost and what went into a compost container. From our research we had three different types of compost bins that would work. We eventually decided to go with the store-bought version because building one ourselves was more expensive. The store-bought container also gave us hinged doors.
Preparing the Project
Preparing the Project
We broke the project down into individual steps and monitored our progress. Budget was our biggest challenge. After that, getting our peers to participate, was another challenge.
Launching the Project
Launching the Project
To encourage our peers to participate we prepared slides to share in our school-wide chapel. Then we placed a bin for compost in the kitchen. The kitchen was the ideal place because that is where everyone throws their food away. Each week we take the compost out to the larger container. When we have enough soil, we will share it with Happy Roots, a local garden organization.
Life Skills
Life Skills
In carrying out my project I believe I developed as a creative problem solver. Many parts of the project required multiple back and forth to get it done especially when picking out a compost bin. I had to research the right kind of bin we needed but then it wasn't the right size or design of bin making me have to think very outside the box to find the one we needed. Not only the bin but the compost system and getting participation was a very tedious process that posed many problems that me and my partner worked around.
I also had to be a motivated student in a way that was very different than in a typical class. Instead of just needing to get my work done and be here for the class we had to visit and explore many ideas and concepts that connected back to our community and you had to speak up when you wanted questions answered. I also needed a lot more help in this class than any other but I stayed motivated and did my best for the whole year.
Finally, I had to show resiliency often. Many times in this class I had a single idea that was the base concept for the entire project and then the idea fell through leaving me to start the whole thing from scratch. It happened a lot in the community class and especially in the waste reduction project we did but I had to stay resilient and start all over again. This class was very humbling and more hands-on than any class that I have taken and although the needed resilience to complete the building work and assignments was great I'm glad I had the class.
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