The Greenlove Foundation and Thompson Middle School

The Greenlove Foundation revealed their 19th water bottle filling station (WBFS) at Thompson Middle School while the students presented their research and work in a gallery walk format at the school.

Teachers, Tina Brownell and Lisa Olaynack, and Vice-Principal, Nick Vockerodt, organized the event on Friday, June 14th. The “gallery walk” allowed the students to present their research work on the issue of single use plastic, litter and composting. The collaborative program surrounding the water station rollout was the first community based call to action project at Thompson involving Greenlove and Clean Ocean Access. Some students displayed their colorful and creative art projects that lined the hallways. Other students worked in teams to create presentations on laptop computers with graphics, facts, power points, or stories about the negative impact of plastic on our planet. The presentations were the result of their research on the subject of plastic pollution that affects the environment on land and in waterways. A “scavenger hunt” questionnaire was implemented for students browsing the gallery to “find” facts about the topics. One team created a skit for their presentation, one girl created a thought provoking paper on plastic pollution and changing habits to make a difference for a cleaner world.

Donations of reusable water bottles from were given by Berkshire Bank, Corrigan Financial, Planet Fitness, Clean Ocean Access and Pulse. A very generous donation of $1,000 (matching grant) was given by the Broadway Merchant Association to Thompson which will be used in the next school year to kick off the ongoing mission to encourage students to use reusable water bottles.

One of the mission goals of Greenlove is to foster and grow an optimistic, positive and forward thinking sense of environmental responsibility and sustainability awareness in schools to establish a life long habit of regarding water health for the world. A packet with the title of “Educational Planning Guide for School-Based Installation” was developed by Sasha Garfield, a GLF board member. The guide provides a timeline for planning projects, building leadership roles, and provides resources to educate, empower and cultivate students. The goal is to engage students with current environmental and sustainability issues, generate environmental awareness through project based learning. The students and faculty use the guidelines to create their own projects and activities. Many parts of the planning guide have been adopted by the State of Rhode Island’s "Task Force to Tackle Plastics." Greenlove board members, Kathy Bowers and Sasha Garfield, are part of the education committee.

The Greenlove Foundation was established in loving memory of Kendra L. Bowers, an environmental science student at UVM who was passionate about the protection and preservation of the land and its resources.

For more information about the Greenlove Foundation, visit www.greenlovefoundation.org.