GLADSTONE - Gladstone High School students are truly doing their part for the environment and humanity by participating in various projects like Cell Phones for Soldiers, the Denim Drive, and making the school a greener place.
Gladstone High School students in Susan Beranek's Current Issues class are dialing in help for American troops with a project called Cell Phones for Soldiers. The students seek donations of old cell phones. The phones are recycled and the proceeds go to help purchase prepaid calling cards for American troops to use to call home. The cell phone recycling program started nationally in 2004 and has since raised millions of dollars to help troops call home. So far, the class has collected approximately 50 cell phones, according to Beranek.
Beranek's class also participated in the national Denim Drive, or The Cotton from Blue to Green denim drive. The denim drive is a call to action to donate denim, such as old pairs of jeans, which can then be converted into a fiber insulation material. The insulation is provided to communities in need, such as those in areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. The collection ended Nov. 2 with the class having collected 405 pairs of jeans to be donated.
Beranek said the purpose of projects like these is to make students aware of the social problems around them, and to show them how they can make a difference.
"They realize they can actually do something to help such as allow a soldier to call home who may be stationed in Iraq or insulate a home that was lost as a result of Hurricane Katrina," said Beranek. "We're tackling social problems one by one."
Although Beranek said she comes from a humanitarian standpoint, some of her projects, like the Denim Drive and Cell Phones for Soldiers which involve recycling, also lend themselves to environmentalism - something Environmental Chemistry teacher Tim Barron has been getting students involved in.
Barron leads a class called "Green Time." Seniors Alyssa Sexton and Michelle Treganowan, known as the "green girls" in school, are part of the class, along with Melissa and Vanessa Crowder.
As members of the class, Sexton and Treganowan meet with Barron for an hour each day to plan and discuss various projects they can do which will help make the school a more environmentally-friendly place.
"During the hour we do research and start projects," said Sexton. "Mr. Barron sometimes gives us ideas and he gives us the resources to finish our projects. We helped with Cell Phones for Soldiers by making announcements that we give to all the teachers and encouraging kids to bring in old, used cell phones."
The green girls not only get involved in "green" projects that are being conducted, like Cell Phones for Soldiers and the Denim Drive, they also do various projects on their own, both in school and outside of school, often using money raised from recycling pop cans and bottles on a weekly basis.
According to Sexton and Treganowan, some of these projects have included raising money for a bald eagle rehabilitation program and meeting with Gladstone Public Works Supervisor Barry Lund to discuss how to encourage recycling within the city of Gladstone. Future projects will include planting a perennial garden for their school, which will be in the shape of a "G," and starting a compost pile, which Treganowan explained will not only reduce the amount of waste the school dumps into the landfill, but will also provide enriched soil for the school garden.
Barron's and his students' ultimate goal is for Gladstone to be named an "Emerald" school, which is the highest honor for a "Green School."
Being a Green School is part of The Green School Initiative which integrates efforts to reduce schools' ecological footprints, make school environments healthier, and get the whole community thinking about solutions to the problems the world faces. It can involve anything from construction to maintenance, food service to gardens, and office supplies to classroom curricula.
The school has already started its overhaul with its Energy Efficiency Project, which involved replacing existing heating and lighting units with more energy efficient ones.
The hope, said Sexton and Treganowan, is for Gladstone to be named an Emerald school by mid-December.
