It’s a green world

Summit equips students with tools to keep it that way

By Rob Cullivan

The Gresham Outlook, Mar 12, 2010, Updated Mar 13, 2010 (2 Reader comments)

Jim Clark / The Outlook

Joy Macalanda of Kelly Creek Elementary examines a red wiggler worm during the "I've Got Worms" class at the Oregon Green Schools Summit held at Portland Lutheran School on Friday, March 5.

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Zuri Herrejon, 11, succinctly summed up what she owes Mother Earth.

“I just like helping the Earth. It made me live,” said the fifth-grader at Lynch View Elementary School in the Centennial School District.

That, in a nutshell, is what drove scores of students and adults from across the state to attend the Oregon Green Schools Summit on March 5 at Portland Lutheran School, 740 S.E. 182nd Ave.

East County schools that sent representatives included Alpha High School in Gresham, Centennial Learning Center and elementary schools Deep Creek, East Orient, Hall, Highland, Hollydale, Kelly Creek and Powell Valley.

Julie Jackson, chairwoman of the board of the Oregon Green Schools Association, noted the organization has 100 member schools, which promote recycling, responsible energy use and waste reduction, among other efforts.

“The summit is really a celebration, a culmination of the work the kids are dong to conserve resources,” she said, noting many of the children belong to their schools’ Green Teams, which promote recycling and energy conservation.

In the Portland Lutheran gymnasium, Lynch View joined several schools in putting up displays explaining environmental efforts.

East Orient, for example, noted the school’s efforts to reduce cafeteria waste and encourage composting. Kelly Creek’s display told how it garnered national attention in 2008 when it won a Ford Motor Company-funded “green makeover.” The makeover enabled the school to replace its playground using eco-friendly materials and structures, and upgrade its plumbing to use less water.

In summit workshops, the children learned about a host of environmental subjects, from how electricity is produced – and how to save the energy needed to produce it – to how to find recyclables in garbage.

“I’ve learned about how you can save water,” said Dylan Cayson, 11, who is in fifth grade with Zuri. “When you’re doing the dishes, plug up the sink so you’re not wasting water.”

Jose Torres, 10, a fourth-grader at Lynch View, and an enthusiastic advocate of home gardening, said he likes growing carrots, tomatoes and broccoli.

“It’s better growing it from scratch than buying it,” he said.

Maria Fuentes, 11, who also attends Lynch View, noted she “had a lot of fun seeing how worms help the environment,” referring to a workshop on how to build and maintain your own composting worm bin.

As her teacher, Tracy Lawrence, enjoyed a dried apricot, Maria pointed at the fruit and said she could turn it into compost with the help of worms.

“They will eat them and poop them out, and they will make really fine soil,” she said, as her friends giggled.

Pedal power

Olivia Andresen, 10, a fifth-grader at Sweetbriar Elementary School in the Reynolds School District, belongs to her school’s Green Team. Among its many efforts, the team encourages students and staff to turn off classroom lights when they’re not in use.

“It’s really fun,” Olivia said of her Green Team work. “I like being involved in things.”

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