Elizabeth School Earns Eco-Schools USA Award

National Wildlife Federation and New Jersey Audubon have awarded Frances C. Smith Center for Early Childhood Education, the Eco-Schools USA Bronze Award for their work in integrating sustainability with school learning.

Frances C. Smith Center proves that one is never too young to embark on the road to environmental learning. Students as young as three and four years old helped to raise monarch caterpillars and release them as butterflies. They also help to maintain a garden of flowering plants to attract monarchs, swallowtails, and other pollinators and grow a variety of organic vegetables. The young students have even started learning about vermicomposting. Butterflies, gardens, and compost are used as teaching tools to help the children learn about ecology, lifecycles, and their role in protecting nature. In fact, much of the learning at Frances C. Smith takes place outdoors, where teachers remark that learning outside helps to keep the children engaged.

Their commitment to outdoor learning helped Frances C. Smith Center to earn the school 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.

Frances C. Smith teacher, Robin Drogin first learned of Eco-Schools after hearing Eco-Schools coordinator Allison Mulch present at the Organization Action on Sustainability in Schools meeting and the New Jersey Education Association Convention. The two connected and shared ideas about how to build on the school’s commitment to sustainability.

“It was Eco-Schools that suggested vermicomposting as an ideal way to engage our young students,” says Ms. Drogin. “The children love the vermicomposting project. They wanted to hold them, feed them table scraps, and stir the compost. And they learned about the life cycle of the worm, enrichment of soil, and how paper and food decay into compost more quickly with the help of worms.”

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.

“Frances C. Smith students are some of the youngest learners in the state to have earned the Eco-Schools USA Bronze Award,” commented Mulch. “They are instilling a foundation in environmental literacy that will follow these children through the years.”

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.