Craig High School Earns Eco-Schools USA Award

National Wildlife Federation and New Jersey Audubon have awarded The Craig High School in Boonton, the Eco-Schools USA Bronze Award for their work in integrating sustainability with school learning.

Craig High is a private, college-prep high school that specializes in working with students with learning disabilities. Students in the BIO-ECO club at The Craig High School banded together with their peers at Boonton High School to address the lack of recycling taking place at schools. While recycling bins have become commonplace in many schools and institutions, students discovered an often overlooked problem -people simply weren’t recycling. A school audit revealed that trash was being thrown in the recycle bins and recyclables were being thrown in the trash bin and nothing was getting recycled in the end. Students launched a multi-pronged approach to boosting the recycling program including morning announcements, a video showing the landfill process on loop during the lunch period, newly designed recycling and trash containers, posters through the school and incentive stickers given to students that recycle. Their efforts resulted in an impressive reduction of 80 pounds of trash since the campaign began.

Eric Caparulo, director of the Craig High School says “Our students have a motto to leave their school better than they found it. One of the most important lessons that our kids took away from this experience is that the journey begins with one step.”

Their success helped The Craig High School earn the Bronze Award from Eco-Schools USA. Eco-Schools USA is a nationwide program that engages school students, faculty, and community volunteers in efforts to improve student environmental literacy and skills. The program provides educators with a framework to integrate sustainability principals into the curriculum, providing students with a unique research and application based learning experience. Eco-Schools in New Jersey is a partnership between National Wildlife Federation and New Jersey Audubon and claims more than 230 schools throughout the state.

To win the Bronze Award schools must establish an Eco-Action Team, conduct an environmental audit, and develop and monitor a student driven Eco-Action plan that addresses one of ten environmental focus areas or Eco-Schools pathways. In addition to direct environmental benefits, the program helps to dramatically improve student skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). It is also a proven framework for promoting youth leadership and community service.

“Eco-School helps empower kids to turn their learning into action and to have a hand in making their schools and communities a better place” says Allison Mulch, Eco-Schools coordinator, New Jersey Audubon.

An Eco-Schools coordinator working directly with schools is a benefit provided to Eco-Schools in New Jersey due to a partnership with NJ Audubon (NJA), National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and the PSEG Foundation. Ms. Mulch helps schools navigate the program and offers free trainings for teachers, administrators and school board members throughout the state.

About Eco-Schools: Eco-Schools is an international program hosted by the NWF in the U.S., and coordinated by New Jersey Audubon in NJ. The program serves over 4,300 schools throughout the country. Eco-Schools USA in New Jersey supports and directly aligns with Sustainable Jersey for Schools point-based system. The Eco-Schools USA website has an interactive map that shows locations and distribution of participating schools. For more information: http://www.njaudubon.org/SectionEducation/ProvidingfortheEducationCommunity/NWFEco-SchoolsUSA.aspx

About National Wildlife Federation: National Wildlife Federation is America’s largest conservation organization inspiring people to protect wildlife for our children’s future. NWF focuses its education and policy work on connecting children to nature for a nation of happier, healthier kids. NWF’s state affiliate is NJ Audubon. For more information: www.nwf.org.

About NJ Audubon: New Jersey Audubon is a privately supported, not-for profit, statewide membership organization that fosters environmental awareness and a conservation ethic among New Jersey's citizens; protects New Jersey's birds, mammals, other animals, and plants, especially endangered and threatened species; and promotes preservation of New Jersey's valuable natural habitats. For more information: www.njaudubon.org.