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Success Story: Sammamish High School
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Sammamish High School
(click image to enlarge)
Colorful graphics for the Environmental Warriors club at Sammamish High School. |
School District: Bellevue
School Location: Bellevue
Began participating in the Green Schools Program: September 2008
Level one of the Green Schools Program: Achieved in June 2009
Waste Reduction and Recycling
- Sammamish High School increased its recycling rate from 15 percent to 29 percent, an increase of 88 percent.
- Recycling containers are in all classrooms, offices and in the cafeteria.
- The school implemented a new classroom recycling system which included the following:
- Large rolling recycling bins, provided by the City of Bellevue and Allied Waste, were placed in hallways.
- Each bin was adopted by a group of students which took responsibility for emptying it into the outdoor recycling container on recycling day.
- A video announcement illustrating proper recycling techniques was shown school-wide to reduce contamination in recycling containers.
- The Green Team, along with the environmental club, Environmental Warriors, put on a “Green Week” to kick off the new cafeteria recycling system. This involved:
- Placement of recycling bins in the cafeteria.
- Student volunteers monitored each bin in the cafeteria each day for a week during lunch in order to educate students about what materials they could and could not recycle.
- When students recycled their waste properly, student volunteers handed out pencils made of recycled newspaper from the City of Bellevue.
- T-shirts were made and sold for “Green Week.”
- The Audubon Society, City of Bellevue and Mercer Slough Educational Center set up booths during lunches outside the cafeteria to get students excited about Green Week.
- A classroom recycling trivia competition was held.
- Two worm bins were started in classrooms to collect food scraps.
- To reduce paper use, all classrooms use smart boards and e-mail communication is used school-wide as much as possible.
General
- An edible garden was designed and planted in the school commons.
- A smoothie fundraiser was held by the Environmental Warriors on Earth Day and during Advanced Placement testing week.
- On Earth Day the Environmental Warriors held an informational fair to promote locally produced foods, growing your own food, energy conservation and recycling.
- The Environmental Warriors invited all Bellevue School District high school environmental clubs to a summit meeting to discuss the following goals:
- What each group accomplished this year;
- What each group is planning for next year;
- How the groups could pool their resources for next year; and
- Where and how the groups could collaborate next year.
- One of the primary goals for the Environmental Warriors next year is to coordinate and promote every school’s “Green Week” activities so that the district might see a significant drop in garbage volume and costs.
For more information about the school’s conservation achievements and participation in the Green Schools Program, contact:
Kristin Larson, teacher
larsonk@bsd405.org
Rina Fa’amoe, resource conservation manager for Bellevue Public Schools
faamoer@bsd405.org
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