Final Personal Project Wrap Up

For my final personal project update, I wanted to first share some of the research I've compiled over the semester, as well as some recommendations I've made to Mr. Merchant, the teacher in charge of IHS's recycling program, and then wrap it up with the future steps they plan on taking.  Yay!

To accompany my little schpeal below, I made a Prezi (which you should totally check out; however, don't let the awesomeness of my presentation fool you, it was ridiculous and I totally will always be a Powerpoint kid).

So, to first give you an overview of the current recycling program at IHS:

• It's coordinated and collected by Mr. Merchant, an agricultural science teacher who also advises multiple clubs at school.
•  The high school recycles only paper products: white paper, notebook paper, newsprint, etc.
• Recycling is only at the high school.  There are two more schools (a K-2 and 3-6) but they do not do recycling of any kind.  Which sucks.

That's rightttt.

 
During the first part of the semester I mainly focused on gathering some research.  Though there wasn't a lot of literature on expanding an existing recycling program (most was how to start one in the first place), I found a couple really helpful documents (here, here, and here) that do talk about how to expand existing programs, and have helpful hints on how to go about doing that.  I also looked into types of recycle bins that are prevalent in schools (which you can look at here as well).

Or, they could make art projects out of bottles.  Like a house.

I also emailed schools around the district, asking about their recycling program, just to get some comparison to the type of program that exists at IHS.  I only heard back from two schools, and one school told me some pretty generic information (they only recycle at the high school, and only paper products, but they rely on their National Honor Society to collect).  However, the second school's recycling coordinator faxed me her copy of their application to become a Michigan Green School, which encourages environmental education, as well as a Green School certification program.  Her information gave me some great ideas about how to expand IHS's program, especially in the future by (hopefully) expanding to the other schools.  This school, Breckenridge, focuses on environmental education in each of its schools.  They encourage students in the elementary to help preserve animals by building bird habitats, they melt and re-use old crayons for elementary school kids, and participated in an energy audit at the middle school.  And these are just a few of the activities this school district engages in.  The Breckenridge school district provides an excellent model for IHS to follow.

You get a flag for $20!  And trust me, they're super excited about their flag.

So, finally, a couple of weeks ago, I provided some recommendations to Mr. Merchant:

• It may be a good idea (though with budgetary concerns I doubt this will happen) to have a full-time staff member be in charge of recycling.  This way the program could begin expanding to the other schools, and someone would be able to devote their full attention to it.  
• Another way in which the recycling program could encourage expansion is by letting the National Honor Society, or another student group, be in charge of collecting the recycling.  One problem Mr. Merchant mentioned was the fact that he did not have the time to go over to the other two schools and collect the recycling, so if a student group was in charge they would a) have more time to travel to the elementary schools and b) be able to split up the work in order to in a more efficient manner.
• Thirdly, I suggest expanding the recycling program to the other two elementary schools in the future.  This will not only promote environmental education, but it will also get children in the mindset that recycling is important early in the games (why yes, I am suggesting that we warp their minds at an early age).  I think if the recycling program were undertaken by a student group, it would be so much easier to expand into the other schools.
• I also suggested meeting with recycling coordinators in the other schools in order to share ideas and collaborate.  Collaboration is uberawesome.
• Finally, my last recommendation to Mr. Merchant was to consider encouraging IHS to become a Michigan Green School, because, again, not only does the MGS promote environmental education, but they also provide a lot of free education materials.  And it doesn't hurt to be able to say "Why yes, my school is a Michigan Green School."

I did receive word from Mr. Merchant a few days ago that they are planning to go ahead with the expansion of the IHS recycling program.  They are currently looking into which recycle bins to purchase, as well as where to place the bins in order to make it convenient for students as well as janitors.  So I was pretty excited to hear that.  Their goal is to get the bins implemented by the end of the upcoming semester.

They're doing a happy dance because they can't wait to recycle plastic bottles.

After having completed my personal project, I learned that it's a lot of work to try and coordinate and expand a program, even by a little bit.  I also learned what not to do when implementing a recycling program in a school (i.e. rely on a teacher - they have way too many other things going on, and it's kind of unfair for them).  Overall, I'm glad my project ended the way it did because I do feel like I made somewhat of an impact and changed a small piece of the world, which feels pretty empowering.  And hey, I learned how to make a Prezi, so that's pretty cool too.

Sustainable Event Numero Tres!

For my last Sustainable Event of the semester, I decided to attend an event thrown by the Sustainable Development Association (SDA) last Monday that dealt with some cool sustainable internships from this past summer.  Though I already completed my SPEA internship, I was really interested to hear what other people had to say.  And, oh yea, one of the presenters was my awesome friend and one of our classmates, Jen B.

For those of you who don't know, Jennifer was in AFRICA all summer, which makes me insanely jealous.

Yea... She got to look at this while I was stuck in Michigan.  Jealous?  Yes, I am.

Specifically, her internship was located in South Sudan and she worked for East Africa Ventures, focusing on micro-finance.  Basically, she was in charge of a lot of groundwork for this new company.  Her position largely centered on tasks such as market research, client base, as well as how to improve on the sustainability of the office.  One of the goals was to make the business more financially sustainable after around three years so locals can take control.  I know from talking to her that this really plays into the type of work she wants to do when we graduate and (*hopefully*) get big kid jobs.

The presentations also included Katrina Folsom, who worked at the Office of Sustainability on campus, Ben Inskeep, who worked with the Nature Conservancy, and Craig Aubuchon, who worked with the American Water Works Association.