Members of the Environmental Club visited Proctor Elementary School in Topsfield to meet with student ambassadors to discuss ways to encourage composting at school.. 

Elementary schools in the Tri-Town have recently been trying to encourage students to start composting during lunchtime.

Members of the Environmental Club provided examples to the students of signs that they’ve used in the past to help educate students on what items are supposed to be composted, recycled, or placed in the trash. 

The Student Ambassadors were not shy about sharing their ideas either, brainstorming possible ways that they could get their classmates interested in composting by creating some sort of game or competition out of it. There were also talks of future projects with the Environmental Club that they could show to their classmates, like an informational and interactive video. 

Vice President junior Elizabeth Shoemaker said it was important to meet with the elementary school kids. 

“It opened up a way for high schoolers and these young elementary students to communicate and share new ideas, inspiring each other to engage more in our communities and create more sustainability within our schools,” she said. 

Advisor Laura Greeley had similar sentiments from her observations at the meeting. 

“The elementary schools are feeder schools for us and the middle school, so these kids are being taught these values and beliefs that we would like them to continue going into the high school. They look up to the high school kids, so it’s an easy way to create a bond and a relationship.”

The Environmental Club plans to visit the Student Ambassadors again in order to start putting together the materials for a video or activity for the kids to show their classmates. 

“It would be really fun if we helped create a video in collaboration with the proctor student board that they can then present to their school,” said Shoemaker. “The video would go over the proper ways to recycle and compost, as well as ways we can conserve energy, all in simple ways such as throwing away your trash in the right spots in the lunchroom.”

The Environmental Club hopes that they carry this information to both the middle school and the high school.

Greeley said, “I hope they feel motivated to belong to a club like this that makes a difference, I also think it’s not just that we’re helping them, but they’re helping us. It’s humbling when you see elementary kids trying to make a difference, and makes us think that we should also be doing that.”