Frog Pond Elementary School Students Created a Wetland and Earned Eco-Schools USA Bronze Award

Prior to the school year ending, National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and New Jersey Audubon (NJA) awarded Frog Pond Elementary School of Little Egg Harbor Township the Eco-Schools Bronze Award for their work in student driven sustainability initiatives. Eco-Schools USA is a nationwide program that engages school students, faculty, and community volunteers in efforts to improve student environmental literacy and skills. 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.

Frog Pond Elementary school was one of seven schools in New Jersey to receive a grant, as part of the “Building Ecological Solutions for Coastal Community Hazards” project with NWF, NJA, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, NJ Department of Environmental Protection, NJ School Board Association and Sustainable Jersey. The grant funded student driven projects that identify and create solutions to ecological problems. At Frog Pond, this meant identifying an area of land that repeatedly experienced flooding after storms and planning and planting a native wetland garden to absorb excess water and create a natural flood deterrent.

Their work earned them the Bronze Award through Eco-Schools USA. Eco-Schools in New Jersey have the unique and added benefit of an Eco-Schools coordinator provided by NJ Audubon through a partnership with New Jersey Audubon, National Wildlife Federation and the PSEG Foundation. Allison Mulch, the New Jersey Eco-Schools coordinator works directly with schools and offers free trainings for teachers, administrators and school board members throughout the state.

Mulch was instrumental in helping Frog Pond Elementary school earn the Eco-Schools award and obtain the grant funding. In addition to their work with the coastal resiliency project, Frog Pond has a thriving energy savings program, through their involvement in the Power Save for Schools program from Alliance to Save Energy. In this district wide initiative, students conduct energy audits of classrooms and hallways and make recommendations to reduce energy usage. Through some simple behavior changes such as turning off lights and computers when not needed and unplugging electrical devices for long weekends and longer breaks, the school reduced electricity use by 664,198 kwh.

“Eco-Schools is proud of the work that Frog Pond Elementary School has done to earn their Bronze Award. They set a fine example of how students can have a real impact on sustainability when they have the support of the school and the district behind them,” says Allison Mulch, Eco-Schools coordinator, New Jersey Audubon.

Frog Pond also launched a composting initiative with a grant from PSEG Foundation through Sustainable Jersey for Schools. Students learned how, what, and why to compost. Rather than learning solely from a text book, kids received hands on experience in the process of building the compost bins and literally digging right in as they turn the soil.

“Checking the lights, turning the soil - this kind of hands on learning is exciting for students. Students like seeing how their efforts have helped to make a difference,” said Trina Reigelman, Energy Manager, Little Egg Harbor School District.

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.