By Joaquin S., a seventh grade leader of the Locke School Green Team in Chicago, Illinois

Back in the 2009-2010 school year, the purpose of the newly created Locke School Green Team was simple: reduce the amount of paper students waste at our school.

With 7 members to start with and only the sixth through eighth grade recycling (our school is kindergarten through eighth grade!), the Green Team wasn’t that big. However, over time the team quintupled in size, opening the world to us, giving us Green Students an opportunity to do more, and to change more.

In June 2010 my teacher and founder of the Green Team, Mr. Parker, was chosen as one of twenty-five teachers from all across the United States to travel to Costa Rica through the International Institute of Education and the Toyota International Teachers Program. While in Costa Rica for two weeks in 2010, Mr. Parker studied global conservation issues, the environment, and new and innovative ways to encourage students to become stewards of the environment.

During his two-week experience he explored the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica and learned about environmental and cultural preservation. He also met with Costa Rica’s top scientists and environmental organizations, visited Costa Rican schools, experienced a home stay visits on a sustainable, and experienced the Costa Rican rainforest first-hand.

While he was in Costa Rica he had an interactive blog and posted journals and photos for his students to follow. His blog can be found here.

The best thing about his experience in Costa Rica was that it inspired him to pursue bigger and better things for the Green Team, and on April 6th, 2011, we had our biggest, greenest, and most important event yet!

On the overcast and chilly Wednesday, April 6th, 2011, Locke School Green Team members made history in their community by holding an incredibly successful E-waste drive and collecting Do One Thing pledges, or D.O.T.s.

“The day started out heavily, we were supposed to get to school at 11:00 A.M. to get a head start but by when we got there, there was already over 50 electronics donated by teachers waiting to be recycled!” said Carlos P., one of the E-waste drive crew members.

The day was long and grueling; one family after another would walk in ready to make a change in our community by recycling there damaged or used electronics. In the morning, we received five boxes and six pallets to fill. By 3:00 in the afternoon, we had to request another truck driver with more boxes and pallets!

“I was simply astonished by the amount of items each family would bring!” said Bart L., another Green Team member and E-Waste crew member. The next day the Green Team members found out they had collected over 470 donations for a total of 4,211 lbs of e-waste!

E-Waste collected:
Printers – 509 lbs
Monitors – 864 lbs
TVs – 1037 lbs
CPUs – 640 lbs
Small electronics– 1161 lbs

Instead of going to landfills, over 4,211 pounds of e-waste instead was refurbished and went to needy families, schools, non-profits, and even overseas!

Meanwhile the D.O.T. station workers were also working hard to convince people to pledge to do one thing that would help our planet and community. Parents, teachers, and students were encouraged to think globally and act locally, pledging to do anything ranging from shorter showers to turning off lights and electronics when they weren’t being used.

Towards the end of the event Sophie O. (who gave an amazing presentation at our school!) from ACE came to visit (and donate to our E-Waste drive!), and when she entered she froze in bewilderment… “WOW! Guys this is simply amazing! In all my school visits that I’ve made I’ve never seen anything like this!” she screamed in admiration.

At the end of the day, the Green Team members and D.O.T crews were exhausted from a long day of hard work. “I’m so tired but it was well worth it, it’s hard to comprehend what just happened, but it’s amazing!” Moises P. a Green Team member and E-Waste crew member remembered. While the D.O.T crew did an excellent job collecting a grand total of 942 D.O.T’s., Sophie O. explained to us that with about 350 more pledges we’d be the school with the most dots in the country!

Congratulations to Locke School, the Green Team members Moises P., Joaquin S., Maciej K., Carlos P., Mario P., and Bart L., Also, a shout out to the D.O.T crew members Luz V., Betsy M., Raven W., Javier D., Ethan O., Jackie R., Nayely M., Rebbecca S., Clara C., Jennifer E., Genesis H., Nohelit J., and last but certainly not least Mr. Parker and Sophie O. for making one of many future Locke “history-making” events come possible! We continue to surprise everyone, ourselves even with the things we accomplish.

No one thought we would ever get over two thousand pounds of electronics in a couple of boxes and haul them away, or that we could get almost a thousand people in our community to pledge to be more environmentally-green, no Sir-ee. But we’re not done, we’re just getting started…