King County celebrates local schools' Earth Heroes

May 13, 2005

King County celebrates local schools' Earth Heroes

Environmental stewards honored for significant contributions

(Note: See photos of award recipients, here.)

Lea Hill Elementary teacher Mary Mondt and her students have made the environment an integral and continuous element in their learning since the beginning of the school year. Their yearly organization of Earth Day activities, one of more than a dozen projects they take on during the year, increases awareness of the environment among the entire student body.

As lead custodian at Issaquah Valley Elementary School, Dusty Duke has worked to make cleaning, waste collection and recycling more efficient and environmentally safe. Dusty's numerous contributions have positively affected not only the physical environment, but the education of both students and staff in becoming better stewards of the natural environment.

It is invaluable contributions like these from students, teachers, school staff and volunteers that help protect and preserve King County's natural environment that Executive Ron Sims honored at the 2005 Earth Heroes Ceremony held this month.

It is invaluable contributions like these from students, teachers, school staff and volunteers that help protect and preserve King County's natural environment that Executive Ron Sims will honor at an Earth Heroes Ceremony on Thursday, May 5, 2005, at 4:30 p.m. at Maplewood Greens, 4050 Maple Valley Highway, Renton.

The Earth Heroes at School Awards honors students, teachers, staff and volunteers as well as innovative school-based programs that are working hard to maintain the rich integrity of our region and our high quality of life.

"Young people are the ones who will inherit our environmental legacy so it is important that they are involved in creating it," said Sims. "I am proud to honor teachers, students, school staff, and volunteers who are working to educate young people about the importance of environmental stewardship."

Many of the exceptional people and outstanding projects in King County schools can be models for similar projects in other schools, classrooms and communities.

"I am truly inspired by the passion, innovation and dedication of our local heroes to make environmental preservation a legacy in King County," said Sims. "Each of our honorees is an incredible example after which we should model our own actions. Each Earth Hero at Schools exemplifies the spirit of service by working tirelessly on behalf of our environment," Sims continued. "We are fortunate to have these environmental stewards in our midst."

In addition to Mondt and her students, and Duke, this year's Earth Heroes at Schools also include:

Teachers

Sara Davis, Linda Reiter and custodian Wendy Leishman, Black Diamond Elementary
Teachers Sara and Linda and custodian Wendy spearheaded a comprehensive waste reduction and recycling campaign that has had a significant impact on the environmental awareness of students and families at the school.

Alonda Droege, Highline High School
Alonda created three watershed projects to enable her students to better understand basic ecological concepts and to contribute to improving and maintaining the environment.

Doug Emery, Beaver Lake Middle School
Doug Emery has for many years been putting extraordinary energy into lesson plans and activities that promote life-long learning about the environment for his students.

Justine Hurley and Marte Peet, Lockwood Elementary School
The stream stewardship program developed by Justine and Marte is an out-of-classroom experience that teaches students about sampling water quality, collecting aquatic insect data, and stream mapping to better understand and protect their environment.

Paul Iacobazzi, Sacajawea Middle School
Paul worked with the City of Federal Way and King County to establish paper recycling in the classroom, can and bottle recycling program in the cafeteria, and printer cartridge recycling for the school's computers. Paul involved students in implementing the program to instill a sense of pride and ownership.

Tasha Kiemel, Discovery Elementary
Tasha started a Green Team with her students in September 2004 and since then has facilitated a number of projects, including a litter pickup, a classroom worm bin, and an enhanced recycling program.

Students

Hannah McHardy, Nova High School
Hannah founded the Old Growth Project at Nova High School, organized teach-ins to educate young people about the destruction of old growth forests, is currently active with Rainforest Action Network, calling stores that use endangered forest products and presenting them with alternatives.

Roots and Shoots Club, Peter Kirk Elementary School
This school club of 23 students and 14 parents initiated a collaborative effort with King County and the Peter Kirk lunchroom staff, custodians and students to set up a lunchroom recycling program. The program has served as a great model of cooperation and environmental action for the Peter Kirk school community.

Staff/Volunteer

Therese Becker and Steve Gardner, International School
Therese, who is a member of the cafeteria staff, and Steve, custodian, worked with King County and the City of Bellevue to boost recycling in the school cafeteria. They worked with the city and county to establish food waste collection in the cafeteria. Through a pilot program, the food waste is picked up by a hauler and taken to a composting facility. In addition, the school added bottle, can and milk carton recycling collection. As a result, they have reduced their lunch garbage by over 50 percent.

Mustafa El Atrash, Enatai Elementary School
Mustafa, lead custodian at Enatai, has taken the initiative to continually improve the school's recycling program. He works with a group of students to collect recyclable materials from the classroom, and has started a milk carton recycling program which has resulted in 1,000 milk cartons being recycled each week.