King County honors local schools’ Earth Heroes

Environmental stewards to be honored for significant contributions

Students, teachers and staff from schools across King County will be honored as Earth Heroes later this month by Executive Ron Sims for their noteworthy actions on behalf of the environment.

“Our Earth Heroes at Schools award winners come from across King County – from alternative schools to traditional schools, yet they all share a common link: a dedication to educating young people and others about the importance of being committed stewards of our earth and its resources," Sims said. “I’m proud to recognize their achievements.”

Sims will honor the Earth Heroes at an awards ceremony on April 24 at 4:30 p.m. at the Maplewood Greens Golf Course Banquet Room, 4050 Maple Valley Hwy., Renton.

The Earth Heroes at School Awards this year recognizes 11 teachers, two individual students and a team of students, plus two maintenance staff and nine school programs for projects that include food scrap composting, carbon dioxide emissions reduction, sustainable landscape and gardening practices, and science curricula that encourage environmental leadership.

"The passion and commitment of our local heroes to preserve our environmental legacy in King County is an example we can all follow,” Sims said. “We are fortunate to have these environmental stewards in our midst.”

Ten winners participate in the King County Green Schools Program and have made commitments as individual schools or as part of their school district to set measurable goals to conserve resources and encourage behavior changes that benefit the environment.

“It’s encouraging to see this partnership reap so many benefits for our community,” Sims said.

For more information about the Earth Heroes at School Program, contact Donna Miscolta at donna.miscolta@kingcounty.gov or 206-296-4477.

Teachers

Deborah Edwards, Eagle Rock Multi-Age School, Duvall
Edwards began an environmental science course that encourages students to interact with and act for the natural world. She initiated a recycling program, planted a school garden, established worm bins for composting food scraps, developed her own carbon footprint curriculum, received a grant to set up a “growarium” to help students understand plant growth, and has gone paperless in all communications with parents. (King County Green School)

Kim Johnson, David Leviten, Susan O’Malley, Explorer Community School, Redmond
This team of teachers is leading the school in two major projects that will drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions, teach students about sustainable landscape and gardening practices, and provide fresh produce to the Redmond Food Bank. As a result, each Explorer student is not only aware of the complex environmental challenges we face, but is learning many tools to address those challenges.

Tasha Kirby and Sue McNamara, Discovery Elementary, Sammamish
This team of teachers inspired the Green Team at their school to go beyond their traditional recycling program. They guided their students in replacing throwaway materials with washable tableware for classroom parties, starting a food scrap recycling program, and collecting plastic bags for recycling. Due to their efforts, the school has reduced the school’s garbage and recycling fees by 50 percent.  King County Green School)

Jessica Levine, Eckstein Middle School, Seattle
Levine was active in incorporating environmental sustainability into the sixth-grade science curriculum. Utilizing resources from local environmental agencies, she created innovative curricula that give students a deeper understanding of science concepts and a real-world context for how their choices affect the environment. Her students are learning to be environmental leaders among their peers and in the community.

Michael Martin, Terminal Park Elementary, Auburn
Martin formed a Green Team with his fourth grade students to cut down on waste, reuse paper in the classroom, and teach the value of proper recycling. Each month the Green Team awards the title “Earth Idol” to the classroom that reuses the most scrap and printer paper. Martin and the Green Team also maintain a worm bin to compost food scraps and further reduce the amount of material going into the garbage. (King County Green School)

Beth Robinson, Hollywood Hill Elementary, Woodinville
Robinson engages her students in many “earth advocacy” projects that teach them about environmental sustainability. Among the projects she has led are the creation of a native plant garden and installation of student-built birdhouses, collaboration with local businesses to build and manage worm bins and market the worm castings, and support of local farming through participation with the Sammamish Valley Alliance’s agro-eco float.

Erin Spiess, Chief Kanim Middle School, Fall City
Spiess transformed an inconsistent recycling program into a firmly established system with high participation. She ensured that all classrooms had recycling bins for paper, and that the lunchroom had recycling bins for milk cartons and plastic bottles. She initiated the process to become a King County Green School and established the Green Team to involve students in educating others about the importance of recycling. (King County Green School)

Stuart Steere, Lake Youngs Elementary School, Kent
Steere teaches his students environmental stewardship through projects such as tree planting, repair of storm drainage areas, and field trips to learn about local water issues. Raising salmon, releasing them in Soos Creek, and picking up litter on the way back is an annual activity with his students. In his off hours, Steere volunteers numerous hours to habitat restoration. He also bikes home from school – a 30-mile, earth-saving practice.

Deborah Edwards, Eagle Rock Multi-Age School, Duvall
Edwards began an environmental science course that encourages students to interact with and act for the natural world. She initiated a recycling program, planted a school garden, established worm bins for composting food scraps, developed her own carbon footprint curriculum, received a grant to set up a “growarium” to help students understand plant growth, and has gone paperless in all communications with parents. (King County Green School)

Kim Johnson, David Leviten, Susan O’Malley, Explorer Community School, Redmond
These teachers are leading the school in two major projects that will cut carbon dioxide emissions. One teaches students about sustainable landscape and gardening practices, and the other provides fresh produce to the Redmond Food Bank. As a result, each Explorer student is not only aware of the complex environmental challenges we face, but is learning many tools to address those challenges.

Tasha Kirby and Sue McNamara, Discovery Elementary, Sammamish
This duo inspired the Green Team at their school to go beyond their traditional recycling program. They guided their students in replacing throwaway materials with washable tableware for classroom parties, starting a food scrap recycling program, and collecting plastic bags for recycling. Thanks to these efforts, the school has reduced the school’s garbage and recycling fees by 50 percent. (King County Green School)

Jessica Levine, Eckstein Middle School, Seattle
Levine was active in incorporating environmental sustainability into the sixth-grade science curriculum. Utilizing resources from local environmental agencies, she creates innovative curricula that give students a deeper understanding of science concepts and a real-world context for how their choices affect the environment. Her students are learning to be environmental leaders among their peers and in the community.

Michael Martin, Terminal Park Elementary, Auburn
Martin formed a Green Team with his fourth-grade students to cut down on waste, reuse paper in the classroom, and teach the value of proper recycling. Each month the Green Team awards the title “Earth Idol” to the classroom that reuses the most scrap and printer paper. Martin and the Green Team also maintain a worm bin to compost food scraps and further reduce the amount of material going into the garbage. (King County Green School)

Beth Robinson, Hollywood Hill Elementary, Woodinville
Robinson engages her students in “Earth advocacy” projects that teach environmental sustainability. Among the projects she has led are creation of a native plant garden and installation of student-built birdhouses, collaboration with local businesses to build and manage worm bins and market the worm castings, and support of local farming through participation with the Sammamish Valley Alliance’s agro-eco float.

Erin Spiess, Chief Kanim Middle School, Fall City
Spiess transformed an intermittent recycling program into a firmly established system with high participation. She ensured that all classrooms had recycling bins for paper, and that the lunchroom had recycling bins for milk cartons and plastic bottles. She initiated the process to become a King County Green School and established the Green Team to involve students in educating others about the importance of recycling. (King County Green School)

Stuart Steere, Lake Youngs Elementary School, Kent
Steere teaches environmental stewardship to his students through projects such as tree planting, storm drainage area repair, and field trips to learn about local water issues. Raising salmon and releasing them in Soos Creek, and picking up litter on the way back is another annual activity with his students. Steere also volunteers on habitat restoration projects, and he bikes home from school – a 30-mile, Earth-saving practice.

Students

Cody Finke, Seattle Academy, Seattle
Cody rallied the Environment Club and facilities staff to design attention-grabbing recycling and compost bins, created a program to recycle CDs, old keyboards and other “techno-trash” at school, and initiated events to motivate participation. Under Cody’s leadership, membership has tripled in the Environmental Club, and weekly trash has been reduced by 20 percent. Cody is now seeking funding for installing solar energy panels at the school.

Christopher Katsafanas and Evan Sullivan, Crestwood Elementary, Covington
For three years these two students have demonstrated a consistent dedication to the school’s composting program. They have played a vital role in collecting and weighing food scraps and documenting the waste diverted from the landfill. They have shared their knowledge with students and teachers alike and their names will always be synonymous with the success of Crestwood’s Earth Tub. (King County Green School)

Cool School Challenge Student Team, Redmond High School, Redmond
Five students– Zachary Doleac, Emily Guo, Jamie Hall, Joseph Hegge and Laura Wang – worked on a project created by teacher Mike Town to reduce greenhouse gas emissions school-wide. They fine-tuned the project at their school and made sure it was adaptable to other schools by training students from other schools in the district. They also presented the Cool Schools concepts at a recent Puget Sound Energy sustainability conference.

Lindsey Parkinson, Eastlake High School, Sammamish
Lindsey Parkinson, an innovative and outspoken proponent for the environment, has been a leader in the school’s Cool Schools Challenge project to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Lindsey created action plans for each of the 60 teachers audited to guide them in reducing their emissions. As a result of this program and Lindsey’s efforts, the school will save at least 120,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over the school year.

Christopher Katsafanas and Evan Sullivan, Crestwood Elementary, Covington
For three years these two students have demonstrated a consistent dedication to the school’s composting program. They have played a vital role in collecting and weighing food scraps and documenting the waste diverted from the landfill. They have shared their knowledge with students and teachers alike, and their names will always be synonymous with the success of Crestwood’s Earth Tub. (King County Green School)

Staff

Judi Benjamin, Kings Schools, Shoreline
As Custodial Supervisor, Benjamin has exercised extraordinary ability to involve staff and students in both large and small conservation projects. Her leadership and inspiration has resulted in effective recycling, including a food waste composting program and an e-waste recycling project. Other actions include installing energy efficient lights and fixtures and switching to earth-friendly cleaning products. (King County Green School)

Thanh Nguyen, Newport High School, Bellevue
Nguyen took considerable steps to ensure the success of the recycling program at Newport High School. Working with the City of Bellevue, Nguyen helped set up the collection system, promote its use among students, teachers and staff, and increase awareness of the importance of recycling. As a result, the school collects an additional 20 cubic yards of recyclables each week and has reduced disposal costs for the district.

Programs/Schools

Audubon Elementary School, Lake Washington School District, Redmond
Teacher Dori West with help from custodian Tony Marckese improved the school recycling program and added a food scrap composting element. West led fifth-grade students in forming the “Make a Better Future” company to set and help achieve goals for reducing and recycling waste. The school’s recycling rate jumped from 29 to 55 percent in four months and 9,500 pounds of food is being composted annually. (King County Green School)

Clark Elementary Science-Technology Magnet Program, Issaquah
This program, led by Ellen Ferrin and Liza Rickey, integrates field trips, hands-on exploration and field projects involving a vast array of skills and topics into the study of forest and water ecology, fish lifecycles, natural resource management, and the impact of hazardous chemicals. Planting a native garden and hosting an eco-friendly car wash are among the ways the students in this program are working to protect the environment.

Family Link Lorax Club, Vashon Island School District
Inspired by a Dr. Seuss book about ecology, the Lorax Club provides opportunities for home-school students and families to learn about and act on behalf of the environment. The group planted the first 60 of a planned 1,200 trees on former pasture land, hosted an evening workshop on Earth-friendly cleaning products, and is creating an outdoor learning space that features native plants.

Gatewood Elementary School and PTA, Seattle
A PTA-initiated effort to remove invasive plants from playground slopes involved eight work parties of parents, students, teachers and community members using non-pesticide techniques, including 58 goats hired to munch away. More than 1,000 volunteer hours resulted in the removal of 160 cubic yards of plant material to a composting facility. The school is on track to be the first officially designated Pesticide Free Grounds in the school district.

Glacier Park Elementary, Maple Valley
Principal Emilie Hard, custodian Connie Jo Erickson and teacher Shanda Sciacqua, along with an after-school student Green Team spearheaded efforts to improve the school’s conservation practices. They started programs to recycle milk cartons and cafeteria food scraps, and educated the community about greenhouse gas emissions and alternative forms of transportation. (King County Green School)

Gregory Heights Elementary, Burien
A truly collaborative effort among students, parents, the PTSA, teachers, office and support staff and the principal resulted in a comprehensive recycling program with widespread participation. The PTSA purchased new recycling bins, students decorated bulletin boards with recycling information, student leaders and lunch assistants guided students on proper recycling, and a recycling ethic is evident throughout the school.

Medina Elementary Green Team, Medina
The student Green Team, led by teacher Kristi Stroyan, created a video that challenges viewers to “make one change” for the environment. The video will soon be available to the entire school district. The Green Team also cares for plants and animal habitat in the school garden, and sponsors Green Days when students bring a no-waste lunch, pick-up litter, and bike or walk to school. (King County Green School)

Snoqualmie Elementary, Snoqualmie
This school has created a culture of environmental stewardship where conservation is a daily practice that is part of the school curriculum, inspiring other schools in the district to do the same. Through its recycling program, which includes food scrap composting and milk carton recycling, the school has increased its recycling rate from 31 to 60 percent. On Waste Free Wednesdays, garbage volumes are reduced by 80 percent. (King County Green School)

The Overlake School, Redmond
Having identified environmental sustainability as a priority, the school raised more than $92,000 in support of this cause. Recycling and composting programs were established, and the school is addressing the outcome of a campus-wide hazardous waste audit. Lighting practices and purchasing decisions were modified to conserve resources, while several student projects were begun that contribute to greater environmental awareness and action. (King County Green School) 

Related Information:

Environmental Resources for Teachers and Students