Students earn environmental award
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Students lead Governor Bullock on a tour through Arlee’s recycling facility.
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Students in the Arlee EAGLES club hold the $1,000 Green Challenge award given them by the State of Montana for being one of the winners of the SMART Schools Challenges.
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Governor Steve Bullock presents the award to Alice Corcoran, club president.
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ARLEE — Arlee students are making an impact on the environment well beyond their close community, and the State of Montana has acknowledged their efforts with a Saving Money And Resources Today award, which stands for SMART.
Arlee Joint School District was one of 13 Montana public schools chosen as winners of the SMART Schools Challenges.
Through these Energy, Green and Recycling Challenges, schools found ways to improve energy efficiency, promote healthy and environmentally sound practices, and reduce waste by implementing or expanding recycling and composting programs.
The $1,000 Green Challenge award was earned by a group of students called EAGLES, which stands for Environmental Advocates for Global and Local Ecological Sustainability. But the catalyst behind EAGLES is Arlee math and sciences teacher Bonnie White, who transformed her environmental sciences class into the flagship EAGLES club.
Students began by doing an environmental audit on all the buildings, looking at the behaviors of students and staff to determine where change was needed, asking questions such as: do we turn the computers off at the end of the workday? Do we leave the lights on, even when it’s sunny? Do we recycle?
“Although we do a lot of good things, we could do more,” White said. The EAGLES “instituted a challenge to all staff and students to lower their carbon footprint by being more aware.”
With help from the Tribes, the students were able to put recycling bins throughout the campus. With the cafeteria on board, the amount of materials, like cardboard, made it necessary to have a trailer to haul the recyclables, which the tribes provided.
The students then helped Ronan, Polson and Mission schools start their own clubs, and the schools plan healthy competitions as a way to spread more environmental awareness.
Because funding is often needed to share their passion, the project has also taught students lessons in fundraising, marketing, and branding. One student has become a grant writer.
“They’re learning how to build this new club — in essence, a new business — up from the ground,” White said. And, the students are “building a sense of unity, and a message they can really distribute through marketing, business, entrepreneurship … It’s all encompassing.”
But it doesn’t end there. The students want the EAGLES program to spread state and nationwide, and are pitching their platform at every opportunity.
So when Governor Bullock came to present the Green Award on April 20, “They were pretty excited to have the Governor’s ear for 45 minutes,” White said.
About 30 EAGLES students led Governor Bullock on a tour through Arlee’s recycling facility, and club president Alice Corcoran gave a presentation.
Prior to the visit, White told the students this was “their chance” because the Governor is in a position of very high authority and power that can inflict change.
“Put what you are passionate about on his radar,” she said.
With the first-ever Eagles summit coming up, all local high school groups will meet. Officials from Washington, D.C. are scheduled to Skype in.
“These kids are making a huge impact on Montana and looking for people in D.C. to put this message out there,” White said. “They are putting their knowledge together to do something physical and tangible, not just in the classroom.”
White said she hopes EAGLES will always be student led, and be heard by politicians and policy makers where they can bring about positive changes.
“As this continues to grow,” White told her students, “you can say you were the first class.”
Support for the club is also offered by Rene Dubay and Mike Durgo, the environmental protection manager for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
