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Success Story: Kent-Meridian High School
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Earth Hero Award
Environmental Science students receive this King County award in April 2011 |
School District: Kent
School Location: Kent
Began participating in the Green Schools Program: March 2009
Level One of the Green Schools Program: Achieved in March 2010
Level Two of the Green Schools Program: Achieved in May 2011
Waste Reduction and Recycling
- Kent-Meridian High School increased its recycling rate from 20 percent to 44 percent, a 120 percent increase.
- Thanks to the school’s recycling success, garbage Dumpster pick ups have been reduced by half, resulting in an average savings of $250 per month.
- To engage staff in the new recycling program, the Kent-Meridian environmental science classes interviewed the school principal and kitchen staff to solicit feedback and encourage program buy-in.
- The students promoted recycling in various ways, including posters in the cafeteria, a PowerPoint presentation that was sent to the entire school and shown in the cafeteria during lunches, and visits to selected classrooms which conducted surveys about recycling.
- Student monitors in the lunchroom help students sort garbage and recyclable materials.
- Efforts included setting up consistent recycling collection, educating students and staff, increasing classroom recycling, reducing breakfast and lunch tray use, and initiating lunchroom can, bottle and tray recycling.
- Through a campaign to encourage students to “only use a tray if necessary,” tray use was reduced from 1,500 trays per day to approximately 1,250 trays per day, or a total of approximately 20,000 trays from Jan. through April 2010. The decrease in tray use resulted in cost savings of about $700, since each tray costs the district three and one half cent.
- Recycling containers were added to the lunchroom for milk cartons, juice boxes, plastic bottles and aluminum cans.
- The environmental science classes set up a “freecycle” station for donating surplus school materials to other teachers.
- In 2010-11, the school switched from Styrofoam trays to wax-lined paper trays for pizza.
- In spring 2011 the school piloted the use of cardboard trays to replace Styrofoam trays at breakfast and lunch.
Energy Conservation
- Staff and students posted signs near light switches reminding people to turn lights off when they leave the room.
- Through the Cools Schools Challenge, students calculated their carbon footprints and 80 teachers partnered with environmental science students to complete the following major steps:
- A pre-challenge audit in which students interview staff members to ascertain how much energy is currently used both in the classroom and in the means of transportation the staff member uses.
- A tip sheet for how to conserve energy provided to all teachers.
- A post-challenge audit including the use of a carbon and energy calculator that allows students to see changes in each classroom and school-wide.
Gardens and Outdoor Spaces
- The environmental science classes teamed with the woodshop classes to build an outdoor classroom. The benches convert to desks. Teachers can reserve the outdoor classroom for class use.
- Woodshop students also built a schoolyard wildlife habitat in the school’s courtyard, with four areas: pond garden, hummingbird garden, butterfly garden and songbird garden.
- A “taste the change” garden that focuses on edible plants also was built by woodshop students. This garden includes plants used as Native American food sources.
- Students removed invasive species on the school campus and replaced them with native plants.
- The school adopted City of Kent Campus Park. Students collected trash, removed invasive species, such as English Ivy and Himalayan Blackberry, and replanted the area with native plants. Woodshop students built bird- and bat-houses for the park.
- In 2010-11, the school added a vegetable and herb garden, which will be used by the culinary arts students, and students worked with Lisa Marahrens from King County’s Master Gardener program.
Water Use
- Kent-Meridian completed a school water use audit and presented findings to the principal and custodian.
- The school also participated in World Water Monitoring Day, testing water from the nearest stream and entering results into an international database.
Grants Received
- National Environmental Education Foundation: $5,000 used for creating the schoolyard wildlife habitat and outdoor classroom.
- Planet Connect: $1,000 to support a student internship in environmental science and for classroom worm bins to recycle food scraps.
- Sustainable Seattle: $1,150 to fund student projects to plant an edible garden, purchase compost bins for yard waste, and purchase three worm bins.
- Wild Places in City Spaces: $5,000 to remove invasive species and plant natives on campus and in the nearby city park.
- Washington Native Plant Society: $500 to support Schoolyard Wildlife Habitat and campus gardens.
- Hazards on the Homefront: $500 mini-grant for the vegetable and herb gardens.
- Planet Connect: $500 to support a student internship in environmental science and to purchase bird feeders that use native wildflower seeds.
Awards and Certifications
- Teacher Dianne Thompson received a King County Earth Hero at School award in April 2010, and won the PTSA Teacher of the Year award for the 2008-09 school year.
- Kent-Meridian High School is the first Washington school to receive an Eco-School certification from the National Wildlife Federation.
- Third period environmental science students received a King County Earth Hero at School Award in April 2011 for teaching about non-toxic alternatives to toxic household cleaners to students at Mill Creek Middle School.
For more information about the school’s conservation achievements and participation in the Green Schools Program, contact:
Dianne Thompson, teacher
dianne.thompson@kent.k12.wa.us
Dana Caldwell, head custodian
dana.caldwell@kent.k12.wa.us
Beth Gilbertson, environmental services supervisor, Kent School District
elizabeth.gilbertson@kent.k12.wa.us
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