This post is a follow up from ACE’s partnership with the Cincinnati Zoo. 

Hughes High School was proud to participate in the Cincinnati Zoo Zero Landfill Challenge with the guidance and support of ACE. Their creative video submission earned them second place in the challenge, winning them 10 free field trips to the Zoo and a spotlight on the Zoo’s website. Hughes has a dedicated core group of students called the “Green Team” led by faculty sponsor and School Psychologist, Carla Mayo. The Green Team took on this challenge in hopes that their waste reduction efforts will inspire other schools and local communities to take similar actions to reduce waste sent to landfills. Ms. Mayo says, “I was excited to hear about the Zoo’s Zero Landfill Challenge because although we are already recycling, I wanted to branch out our program to do more, and this gave us the perfect opportunity to do so.”

Ms. Mayo saw this challenge as a way to remind the school community about the recycling efforts at Hughes and encourage them to re-commit to participating in the program.  The Green Team made great strides during the couple months allotted for the Zoo Challenge, but they recognize that this will be an ongoing effort for years to come. Ms. Mayo says, “What we’ve done so far for this challenge is come up with ideas of how we are going to share information with others. We decided the best way to start was through the ACE “Do One Thing” (DOT) campaign.” Working with the Alliance for Climate Education, the Green Team started with the DOT campaign on Earth Day. Ms. Mayo says, “We asked students, community members, and faculty to do one thing to help the environment. So far we’ve collected over 100 DOTs with over 80 of those pledges being waste related.” The Green Team wanted to branch out beyond their school for this challenge, so they also asked family and community members to pledge a DOT.  After a week of collecting pledges, the Green Team created a mural to represent the pledges made, and it is being displayed in a prominent location in the school to inspire others to make sustainable changes.

In addition to their focused recycling efforts, Hughes works to engage the surrounding community in sustainable actions through their community garden.  With help from community partners like the U.S. Green Building Council, the garden has truly become a collaborative project that engages staff, students, partner organizations, and Cincinnati residents.

One of the core values of Hughes High School is to respect the environment. Ms. Mayo explains, “The Green Team is doing an excellent job of living up to this value by acting as leaders and modeling how other students and faculty can get involved in the recycling movement.” The Green Team has also worked to include students with disabilities in this endeavor. These students collect recycling during the school day, giving them a sense of accomplishment while at the same time modeling recycling behavior for other students.

Overall, Ms. Mayo and the Green Team believe their combined efforts will help sustain the waste reduction culture at Hughes for generations to come. Ms. Mayo explains, “We’re in the process of creating a system for recycling that can be passed off to the next generation of staff and students that step in so that the program is sustainable. Hughes is continually growing in our efforts and there are a lot of great things to come out of this program.”

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnF6XXzm_ic[/youtube]