A CECH civic project

Students study "greening" their school

A group at the Solomon Schecter Day School has formulated a plan for "greening" their school by cutting energy usage and increasing recycling.

They also are interested in being a part of the City of Creve Coeur's effort to join a national "Cool Cities" program.

Fourteen-year-old Jack Seigel said the students' "greening" plan isn't trying to "change everything" at the school. But, he added, "If we change a lot of little things the savings can add up to a lot."

Some of the recommended conservation recommendations involve usual changes. The kids recommended moving to more efficient light bulbs and increasing the number of items to be recycled.

But, Seigel's committee also suggested one unusual item. The school has an annual memorial service of Yom Ha Zikaron. That's a Jewish celebration honoring fallen Israeli war heroes.

He said it's usual to place cut roses at the base of the flag pole during the ceremony. Instead, he suggested using potted native Missouri plants.

Unlike the cut flowers that wilt and are thrown away, he said, "The living plants could be reused to expand the school's native plant garden."

The Solomon Schecter project is part of the Citizenship Education Clearing House (CECH) program at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The program helps get kids involved in civic projects in their local communities.

(If your school might be interested in the CECH program, your teacher can call the director, Karen Pippin, at UMSL at (314) 516-6853.)

The City of Creve Coeur is considering joining the national "Cool Cities" program, being sponsored by the Sierra Club. The group said it wants to solve "global warming one city at a time." Several Missouri cities already are in the program.

(For more about the "Cool Cities" program, you can visit www.coolcities.us. Or you can learn about Creve Coeur's efforts at www.creve-coeur.org. On the homepage, click on Cool Cities.)

Jaysen Christensen is the assistant to the Creve Coeur city administrator. He met with the Solomon Schecter kids when they were trying to decide on a CECH project. Some other suggestions included monitoring local stream pollution and working on a proposal for a citywide wi-fi program.

Mr. Christensen said, "The kids liked the idea of being a part of the 'Cool Cities' effort."

Once they decided on a special project area, the nine kids divided into four committees, two for each committee area. The ninth, Juliana Wishne, 14, was named the project manager.

Fourteen-year-old Paul Lisker was a member of the Energy Committee.

Paul said, during his committee's research, "I was surprised about how much energy was being wasted. I also was surprised how much I didn't know about the subject."

The kids met with the school business manager to try to identify things that could be changed. Paul said, "We found out we couldn't do much about the air-conditioning at the school. Changing that would be very expensive."

But, the kids did recommend changing the types of light bulbs used. They also recommended a policy of turning off lights when a room isn't in use.

He said, "And we are looking into the idea of using light sensors that would automatically turn on and off lights when someone comes in a room or goes out."

Paul's committee also recommended the school expand the number of items set aside for recycling.

Project manager Juliane said the kids started their project by viewing former Vice President Al Gore's award-winning documentary film on global warming.

She said the kids made a presentation of its final report at a CECH Project Fair on April 30.

Juliana added, "Our recommendation on composting is going to start very soon."

Jack Seigel said the kids studied two different types of composting. One would involve regular composting while the other would use worms to speed the process.

"We decided on the regular composting and we're going to get a mechanical tumbler to rotate the material to be composted," he said.

Other committees were studying such areas as cutting down on paper use.

One suggestion in this area involves sending the school's newsletter by e-mail rather than having it printed. This would save not only in paper but also in the cost of mailing the newsletter.

The kids said they have adopted energy conservation and recycling efforts at home.

Jack said, "We have switched light bulbs. And I convinced my family to recycle." He said his hometown of Town and Country has separate recycling and trash pickups.

Paul also said his family has changed light bulbs and separates recyclable materials for pickup. He lives in Creve Coeur.

Juliana said her family in Chesterfield "recycles everything" and has changed to higher-efficiency light bulbs.

Teachers Susan Low and Rick Schmidt supervised the CECH program at Schecter School. Ms. Low is the middle school team coordinator and Mr. Schmidt is the science teacher.