Principia School 2017-18 Green Schools Quest

March 11, 2018

My students have a number of projects they are excited about. I'm letting them divvy into groups to be able to tackle multiple projects. This means we're going to attempt to do all of these. Here are the categories:

Gardening - Upper School students are excited to build a vegetable garden in a prominent space on campus so that students can access it while walking to and from school (50% of our students are boarders and live on campus). In addition to getting students outdoors more, the education of plant cycles and what fresh vegetables taste like will be huge. This garden would also tie to curriculum - students will be interviewing teachers to learn what to plant (history garden, bible garden etc) to ensure that it is both enjoyable and promotes student learning.

Rain Barrel - our lower school playground has 6 raised beds (these are not accessible to Upper School students) but no easy water access. This has provided challenging every time they need to be watered!
There is a small shed close to the gardens where a rain barrel could possibly be added.

Composting - in addition to interest in composting food waste on site (we already are contracted with St. Louis Composting), students have recognized that the paper towels we use in the bathrooms could be composted rather than thrown away.

Recycling - A group of students is interested in creating a school-wide recycling competition to generate excitement and improve the recycling awareness of students.

Chickens - We built a permaculture orchard at our school last year and we have been dealing with some pests. Students are excited to explore the idea of bringing chickens back to our school in this area to help with pest and weed management. We have a coup that is sitting unused elsewhere on campus.

Intended impact of project

Reduced environmental impact
Increased environmental & sustainability literacy