Students Strengthen Sunnyside’s Sustainability

 

It’s less than a half-hour before the Friday afternoon dismissal bell rings at Sunnyside Elementary, and while teachers shuffle around their classrooms organizing end-of-week routines and students busily put the final touches on late afternoon assignments, one group of volunteer fifth graders is doing some weekly weightlifting up and down the hallways.

But these tireless 10- and 11-year-olds aren’t lifting dumbbells.  Instead, they’re flexing their muscles to make recycling a top priority at their school.

“We actually miss our recess time,” explains fifth grader Jordan Huynh as he carefully dumps a large orange bin of paper scraps from a nearby classroom.  “But I think it’s worth it because when we recycle, we’re not just throwing paper away in the trash.  We’re reusing it, and maybe we can make more stuff with it.”

In one afternoon round of politely knocking on more than 30 Sunnyside classroom doors, the platoon of paper picker-uppers, which rotates among 4-6 fifth graders each week, fills two large garbage bins with snack wrappers and scratch paper for the school custodian to keep separate from the everyday trash.

“I like keeping our school clean and I like to think about what all this recycling can turn into,” says fifth grader Fi Lilly.  “Like maybe it can be recycled into new paper to make an art project, or maybe into different bright-colored papers.”

And thanks to more NCSD schools with trash-to-treasure troops like Sunnyside’s, the future of sustainability in all North Clackamas schools is just as bright.