Students and staff at Ferris elementary in Richmond were thrilled to be recognized for their work protecting the environment when they received a $20,000 cheque from Staples Canada at an assembly Wednesday.
The school was one of 10 across Canada that won the company’s Superpower Your School contest, aimed at encouraging kids to make fighting climate change a priority.
“If we don’t help the environment, then all the animals will die out and then humans could also die out,” said Grade 5 Ferris student Joyann Hua.
“And then we might have to move to another planet, and that could be hard.”
Her teacher, Kevin Lyseng, worked with kids to put together an application package for the contest outlining Ferris’ commitment to helping the environment. It was a former student who suggested last year that Ferris should enter.
“It’s very affirming,” Lyseng said. “These wins give me more momentum to keep pushing forward.”
He’s been at Ferris since 2001, except for a four year break working as an environmental teacher-consultant for the district, so he’s seen the school’s environmental initiatives grow over time.
They have a robust recycling program collecting used cans and bottles and returning them for change. With that money, they've purchased field trips and water bottle refill stations to replace the school's vending machines.
Students also ask peers to evaluate their own carbon footprint to see how they can reduce their impact.
Lyseng is proud of how the school in Richmond’s City Centre has transformed its courtyard by adding trees, benches and vegetable gardens the students enjoy tending to. They have a compost program, too.
At the assembly, students explained their latest initiative recycling flexible packaging. It’s a pilot project in partnership with the City of Richmond and 22 schools across the district that will bring their discarded Ziploc bags and candy wrappers to Lynas Lane to be repurposed.
The $20,000 prize helps schools purchase green technology to further their environmental goals. Staff still have to decide how it will be spent, but Grade 6 student Ethan He has some suggestions.
He’d like an infrared camera to help visualize heat loss in the school building. He also thinks a time lapse camera to watch the class’ fruit and vegetable garden grow over the summer would be cool.
A weather station to figure out the best time to plant and harvest would be good too, and Lyseng joked it would help staff schedule fire drills so students don’t get rained on.
A microscope to study bugs and plants from the garden would also be welcome, He added.
Purchasing solar panels for the school’s roof would be an obvious choice too, Lyseng said. But he’d need to do an assessment with the district to see if it would be feasible.
