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Applegate School moving toward greater sustainability

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By CHRISTINE BARCIA
Staff Writer

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Come January, students at the C. Richard Applegate Elementary School will be getting their hands dirty.

“Three or four students per grade will be trying to determine how many recyclable items are going in the trash,” said Debbie Wilson, a kindergarten teacher and chairwoman of the Applegate Green Team.

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The school is participating in Eco- Schools USA in New Jersey through a partnership between the National Wildlife Federation and the New Jersey Audubon Society. In addition, the Public Service Enterprise Group Foundation participates in the sustainable schools grant program by offering guidance and training.

Through ioby, which is a nonprofit online platform for citizen-funded projects, pupils have been able to raise money to purchase eco toolboxes that will be used to measure lunch waste and classroom waste.

So far the school is more than halfway to the Dec. 15 goal of $4,000, Wilson said.

A substantial amount of money was raised from the pupils themselves as they donated money and purchased globe keychains as part of the school’s “Give Green to Go Green” campaign.

“With the money, we will purchase six toolboxes that will each include an iPad to use online tools, rubber gloves, tarps, calculators and office supplies,” Wilson said.

The Green Team chose to focus on waste and consumption for two reasons, Principal Rebecca Winters said.

“It’s tangible and it could meet with success,” she said.

Through this program, the pupils make a personal commitment to initiate change in the community, Wilson said, adding that “students are agents of change and empowered.”

Winters said the goal of the project is for students to feel “invested in sustainability.”

Fifth grade students, working with Green Team members, will take the lead and teach lessons in sustainability to other pupils.

“Based on information the students get from their work in January, they will develop interventions with other students and teach kids what to recycle,” Winters said.

There is also a commitment to reduce consumption and increase recycling by staff members, Winters said.

Winters reported that the school has recently reduced its paper consumption through the use of dry erase boards and Chromebook laptop computers.

Currently, the Chromebook ratio is 1:1 for pupils in grades three through eight. The goal for 2016-17 is to have all students in the K-8 district be 1:1 with the devices, Winters said.

“We are just one school, but we are part of a larger district and a whole community. If we can significantly reduce waste and waste fees here, we envision we can effect change beyond our school walls. We don’t want there to be an end to the project,” Wilson said.

The Eco-Schools USA program also has a global component. The fifth grade eco leaders are using a digital platform to share the school’s progress throughout the year with students at their sister school in Taiwan, Wilson said.

“Students are also being afforded the opportunity to learn how a class across the world is solving waste and consumption problems at their local level. We hope to create global citizens of the future who can collaborate to create sustainable solutions to local problems,” Wilson said.

Winters said this project was “Debbie’s (Wilson) brainchild.”

“The vision of one teacher can change the culture of a community. It will change how the school will be in years to come,” the principal said.

Applegate PTO Co-President Debbie Campbell said the organization “decided to design and produce an Applegate Eco Tshirt” in an effort to raise funds for the eco initiative.

“It is the real desire of our parents and teachers to provide the best experience for our children while helping them to become kind and responsible citizens of our world. After all, this is their planet and it is our job to teach them how to care for it,” Campbell said.

Pupils and teachers in Newark and Morristown are participating in similar sustainability projects.

The Eco-Schools USA structure is intended to be a flexible process and one any school should be able to implement, according to the organization’s website. In addition to the waste and consumption focus the Applegate educators chose, other pathways include climate change, energy, sustainable food, transportation and water.

For more information or to make a donation, visit https://www.ioby.org/ project/eco-cool-tools

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