Moving from environmental awareness to action

TOWER- Can mushrooms be used to recycle plastic? Can plastic be used to make bricks sturdy enough for construction? How can you set up a worm composting system at your home? How can we reduce food waste? Can plant fibers reduce our need for plastics? How do we recycle medical waste safely? And what about nuclear waste?
These were just some of the questions that students at Vermilion Country School tried to answer during the school’s Environmental Expo on Feb. 1.
VCS has a focus on environmental education, and during last week’s expo day, students took knowledge gained from environmental education (EE) studies throughout the year to create projects that showed ways to solve environmental problems created by waste.
The goals of the EE program are five-fold: building awareness, gaining knowledge, changing attitudes, and learning skills, which all lead to the final goal of having students take action.
Each year the school’s environmental curriculum has a new focus, and for the first half of the school year, the focus was on recycling and waste reduction. Students set up recycling stations throughout the school building, took data on the types of recyclables being collected, visited the St. Louis County recycling facility to see how local recyclables are handled, and learned where different types of recycled items go, and what happens when certain types of waste, specifically plastics, are not recycled.
The students then worked in small groups to identify a concern and create an action plan that could help solve an issue relating to solid waste.
“Expo Day was a huge success,” said the school’s new director, Sam O’Brien. “Students worked independently and presented real solutions to the challenges they see in their community. It was a really wonderful opportunity to see students work within their experiences and find real solutions.”
Parents and family members were invited to come view the projects, as well as interested community members.
“Students did a great job with their research,” said Adrienne Whiteman, whose daughter is a senior at VCS. “They were very creative. I wish all the students’ parents had come.”
Projects were judged through a three-tier evaluation process. Teams of teachers, staff, and school volunteers met with each team and listened as the team did an oral presentation and then evaluated them on their project. Those attending the expo got a chance to give comments on each project, and the students were required to do self-evaluations.
“Each group chose their own project,” said teacher Karin Schmidt. “They identified a problem and found some solutions. Now they are creating awareness.”
Schmidt said the older students, who had been doing these types of projects for several years, “really knocked it out of the park.” But she also said the school’s new students really performed above expectations and did a great job. She added that the students are learning how to honestly self-evaluate their work, a crucial step in the learning process. Students had to note what they had contributed to the project, how well they had worked as a team, if they had come to class prepared, helped find the materials needed to create the presentation, and did their fair share of the work.
One thing the staff noticed this year, Schmidt said, was that there wasn’t enough time for students to get a good look at all the other projects. Going forward, she said, they will be sure to schedule time for students to spend time learning about their classmates’ research.
The school will host a second expo day later in the spring. Projects will focus on fresh water as a resource, keeping water clean, not wasting fresh water, and study parts of the world where clean water is scarce and how that impacts daily life and health.
During the pandemic, expo day was not open to families. But this year, attendance was above expectations, with a majority of students having a family member attend. The day was also a chance to show off other work by students, such as art projects.
“We had great support from our parents and the community,” said teacher Ashley Miller.
“Our students learned a lot,” said office manager Karla Lundstrom. “They all worked really hard, and they got to show off their knowledge to parents and community members.”