Getting Dirty in the Name of Learning at Greenvale Elementary

Like most years, after school on Fridays was a time for the majority of Park Elementary students to hurry home to start their weekends.

But each Friday since March 4 until the of the school year, a class full of students started their weekends by willingly staying after school. 

The students are members of the Greenvale Park Royal Ecology Club, a club that they formed with the help of teacher Tony Seidl. Twenty-five to thirty students met each Friday after school joined by their philosophy to “love the earth and environment by treating it right and getting out in it!”

The work of The Greenvale Park Royal Ecology Club is student driven. Seidl gives guidance to keep the students on task, and student helper, Northfield High School ninth-grader Avery Swearer, offers assistance, but it’s the kids who decide what projects they will do.

Since their first meeting, the kids have implemented several projects.

They cleaned up and seeded Greenvale’s butterfly garden, made two movies related to their club’s work, spearheaded a lunchroom composting project and started a worm bin to compost food waste and shared an ecology tip on the school announcements every morning in April. Plus, each time they meet, the kids take time to go outside, climb trees, play, weed, pick up trash, beautify the school grounds and enjoy the outdoors.

At a recent meeting the students talked excitedly as Seidl wrote the agenda on the board. First they needed to review their composting project. Then they wanted to check on their worm bin project. And last but not least, even though it was raining, they planned to head outside to weed and beautify the green space around their school.

Their composting project is going well but the students are concerned that the project could work better. Avery has some suggestions about signage that might help remind students what can and cannot be composted. Several students chime in with their ideas and the group comes up with a plan of action.

Seidl shared statistics of the project’s success—an average of 60 pounds of Greenvale’s lunchroom waste per day is now being composted instead of being tossed into the trash. That’s more pounds of compost than trash, Seidl pointed out, and the kids were excited with their success.

The worm bin presented another challenge.

“Right now, we can’t find any worms,” said fourth-grader Dan Nelson, as he dug around in the worm bin.

“You saw the fuzzy mold in there?” asked Siri Lindell, another fourth-grader, as she pointed out the food they’ve put in the bin was molding instead of turning to compost.

Again the students brainstorm and analyze the situation. They’re not sure what’s going wrong with the worm bin but are determined to find out.

“It’s time to go outside,” Seidl announced over the chatter.

And even though it was raining steadily, the kids headed outside to enjoy the great outdoors.