Current Projects
Composting:
Food waste is a major source of carbon emissions. When food rots in landfills, it emits methane which is even worse for the atmosphere than Carbon Dioxide. With our partner, Blue Earth Composting we established a program at the High School in 2022-23.
Spaulding Elementary
For 2023-24, we are partnering with USA Recycling to start a composting program at Spaulding School in Suffield. We are USA's first school composting program and are very excited to get in on the ground floor and help them plan their program! SSC students will be working with the elementary students to teach them about composting by creating in class composters. The Spaulding students will also perform in class food waste weigh-ins to see how much food waste their class generates.
Click here to watch the video made for USA Recycling about the big composting rollout at Spaulding!
Next stop - McAlister Intermediate School!
Raising Awareness And Demanding Action:
We are seeking to let both local leaders and businesses about climate change let them know we care about the environment. We created a student petition, which we will send to CT Governor Lemont, that has over 286 signatures on it that declares climate change a state emergency and demands immediate action by the state.
Single Use Plastic Reduction Canvasing
We are currently designing plans for a single use plastic reduction plan to take place in Spring of 2024! We are consulting with Big Blue and You to model our program off of the wildly successful program they implemented in Miami Florida and hope to learn a lot from them as we move forward!
Speaker Series
SSC is looking to bring youth oriented (if not youth themselves) speakers to Suffield High School for an educational, empowering speaker series. Look for updates as the year moves on!
Green Leaf Schools!
As of this year, Suffield High School is considered a Green Leaf School! This program is designed to help schools transition to more sustainable places to learn. According to the website "Connecticut Green LEAF Schools are healthy, productive learning environments. Studies show that a green school raises student academic achievement, saves money, and improves the health of students and staff. Schools with strong EL and SL build critical thinking skills by designing curriculum that provides interesting, relevant, and real-world contexts for learning core concepts and skills while aligning with NGSS, state standards, and district learning benchmarks. These schools are energized by a mission to make a difference in their school and community."
From composting to Walk to the Hart to our speaker series, our hard work has really been inline with the mission of the GLS program, and we are so happy to be a part of this incredibly helpful platform!
What comes next? SHS applies for the Green Ribbon Schools award!
If you are interested in learning more about the Green Leaf Program, click here.
