Calgary kids across the city who have been gearing up for the 20th annual Mayor’s Environmental Expo have just scored their schools a $300 incentive.
The City of Calgary has awarded 15 schools a grant of $300 each to support environmental initiatives undertaken by those registered in the school showcase project for the three-day expo to be held on June 2, 3, and 4.
Shelley Long, a Grade 12 student at John G. Diefenbaker High School, started an environmental club last year and attended a ceremony at St. Paul Centre yesterday to announce their school’s initiative and accept the money.
“I found that at our school there was a lack of participation,” she said of her decision to start the club.
Long’s group has set out to landscape their schoolyard and encourage staff, students, and the community to get involved in the gardening project.
“A lot of people trek through our school, so if they can walk through it and enjoy it … hopefully they’ll come back,” she said.
Long was part of the group at the expo last year that raised $52,000 for the food bank by gathering 3,300 old cellphones for recycling.
Other projects this year among the schools include bringing composting worms into the classroom, purchasing and monitoring weather stations, and encouraging students to walk to school.
Brian Briggs, from the Calgary Separate School Division, said he’s excited to see these initiatives take off. “So many times when kids are learning, the learning stops in the classroom,” he said, adding that if anyone’s going to solve our world’s problems, “it’s going to be teachers.”
