Success Stories

Students in classrooms across canada are undertaking amazing actions projects that are helping to transform their schools and communities, with inspiration from local LSF Youth Forums.

Read about a selection of success stories below:

Wismer Wigglers!

2008-04-24

I recently got to experience my first Action Project, as a part of Ecoleague, at Wismer Public School. As a newcomer to Learning for a Sustainable Future, I was both eager and nervous to see what all the hype was about. Being a co-operative education student, still in high school, I was ecstatic about finally being able to participate in a “grass roots” level action project!

We began the day with a short introduction, and then we jumped right into a game of Sustainability trivia. I was extremely impressed with both the knowledge and enthusiasm of the Wismer participants. I definitely didn’t know a worm had 5 hearts, but some of the students did! It was awesome that all the students, who ranged from Gr. 4-8, were working together and all having fun. I feel part of their enthusiasm stemmed from the amazing caretaking staff at their school. The ladies in charge of caretaking created a program that involves the students, who help them to make their school and local community greener. The students made it obvious that they enjoyed being a part of this program, and that the custodians made their office, the best place to be at lunch! The students also responded well and recognized the importance of taking action, after they calculated their results from the waste audit.

The trivia game, was followed by the students’ favourite part of the day, as well as mine; BUILDING THE VERMICOMPOSTERS!!! First, we had to take the bins and fill them with shredded newspapers. We then added soil, water, and broken eggshells. Then it was time for our crawly friends to come out. The slimy worms were wiggling all over the place! The students and I had fun discovering the importance of the worms and how they function. After a long while of playing around with them, we placed them into the soil, where they could begin their work.

We concluded the day with the “So What” activity, which allowed students to reflect on their experiences. The students and I both realized how important it is to recycle, compost, and reuse. Overall, it was a fun and educational day at Wismer Public School!

Pleasantville Eco Team tackles school waste!

2008-04-09

Learning for a Sustainable Future’s Eco-league team recently got the opportunity to team up with Pleasantville’s Eco-Team, to work on an Action Project. The students created their club, after they participated in this year’s GTA EcoLeague Youth Forum held in October 2007. After participating in different workshops at the Youth Forum, the team came back to school and decided to green their school with vermicomposters. The club’s members are students from Grades 4-8, and from a variety of classes. However, they all share a common interest and enthusiasm when it comes to being environmentally friendly.

The LSF Eco-League team was extremely impressed with the results of their waste audit. It’s incredible that over two-thirds of the school’s lunches are litter free! Furthermore, Pleasantville has been producing extremely little waste that can’t be recycled, reused or composted! These record low levels of waste production are a result of the dedication and determination of the students, staff, parents, and caretaking staff at Pleasantville Public School.

Overall, this action project was a great opportunity to create a coalition between the community and the Eco-Team at Pleasantville Public School. Eager parents from the Parent Council’s green committee came out to help. This coalition can continue to work together now and in the future to create a more sustainable school and community.

Bancroft’s building a beautiful Boreal Forest!

2008-03-16

Bancroft school in Montreal has been working diligently to create and maintain an indoor Boreal Forest installation!. The forest is slowly, but surely taking form! A boreal forest is a wonderful ecosystem, that takes a long time to develop, and their forest is no exception.

In the meantime, they have been enjoying the fine views, which feature a gaggle of Canadian geese, a pond full of frogs, a very cute beaver, a poisoned avril, a fox, and a developing owl.

The staff of Bancroft School have created their own unique plan to teach the many and varied aspects of environmental issues that we are all facing. The grade five class alongside the school's faculty, are in the process of creating an informative theatre presentation about the environment. They are using the question “Who do you think will solve our environmental problems: science, business, art, government, or an average citizen?” to create awareness towards the issue at hand. Their inspiration for this came from the engaging Montreal EcoLeague Youth Forum keynote, who asked this same question to Forum participants in November. Bancrofts presentation will feature four different scenes; Earth, Air, Water and Fire, in which there will be a dialogue between characters from each walk of life. They are planning to have this presentation ready in the coming month!

In addition, Bancroft school has organized activities for Earth Day. During, this time students will have the opportunity to view the boreal forest, play some environmental games, and plant seeds in the school’s garden. The school plans to create awareness themes for each day of the week, for example Monday is “Turn out the lights.”

The school has been celebrating their victories, and working hard to continue their progress. As well, the school has been incorporating their students in the decision making process in order to help prepare them to be responsible citizens and make sustainable decisions in the future.

Royal West launches their own website

2008-03-01

Royal West's Environment Committee has lauched their own website providing up-to-date information on their projects.

Michael Wrobel, a Grade 9 student is the creator of this website.

Please check it out: http://www.emsb.qc.ca/royalwest/Environment%20Comittee/index.html

Centennial High looks into the future!

2006-03-01

Centennial High School’s action team holds an annual school-wide, cross-curricular project. In 2006, the theme was “Imagine Our Future” with an emphasis on sustainability. The project featured:

  • A school wide student convention on March 1st, 2006 (similar to LSF Youth Forums)
  • Three weeks of in-class curriculum based projects related to the “Imagine Our Future” theme
  • An “Expo” of student projects on March 22nd, 2006
  • Lobbying and Fundraising campaigns for a variety of causes
  • A school based energy conservation awareness campaign

The school’s action team is also creating a youth-oriented website and software program to promote water conservation.

Fair trade fought for at St. Mary’s High School

2005

St. Mary’s High School in Calgary has taken part in a district-wide awareness program on Sweatshops. The action team ran ads on the school’s TV's for two weeks with interesting and disturbing facts about sweatshops. They also set up a bulletin board display and booth in the hallway for students to visit. The action team has also written letters to business in the area who practice fair trade to donate gift certificates to the school so that students will be able to enter a contest to win the certificates by correctly answering questions about the realities of sweatshops.

Canmore Collegiate lends a hand to corporate world!

2004

After attending the LSF Youth Forum held at Mount Royal College in 2004, Canmore Collegiate’s action team teamed up with the Rocky Mountain Soap Company to study how they could make the company more sustainable. This project really took off and spun into two separate projects. The initial idea was to help the local business to minimize their waste. In studying the company’s system they found that one of the by-products in the soap-making process is a high salt residue, which was being thrown away by the company. With research the student team found that this “waste” soap could actually be used not on bodies but on clothes as laundry soap. The student action team pitched the idea to the company and they loved it.

The students then looked at the possibility of creating rain barrels from the big metal barrels containing coconut oil the company uses in the soap-king process. Before the students started working with Rocky Mountain Soap Co., the local business had been sending the barrels to the landfill. The students decided to clean them up and sell them off as rain barrels to collect water from eaves troughs. Many partners have gotten involved with the project, including a local car wash where the students cleaned out the barrels, a plumbing company who are supplying the hardware for the barrels, local artists from the Artist' Guild who will be painting the outside of the barrels, Canmore town council, and the local newspaper. The idea is to have artists paint the barrels once the students have cleaned them and then auction them off as art pieces/environmental rain barrels at our annual ARTSPEAK festival in June.

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