Scrap Metal Drive Raises $790

We have added up the donations, and the 2023-24 LPS Scrap Metal Drive raised $793!

Our partners, Alter Metal Recycling and Sadoff Iron and Metal Recycling Company, accept a variety of items for recycling and track community donations throughout the year. Community members were encouraged to recycle their scrap metal at one of those businesses where they could then donate all or a portion of the proceeds to benefit the LPS Recycling Program. The Lincoln Community donated the proceeds from over 10,140 pounds of metal that was recycled throughout the school year. 

These funds are used to replace aging, worn out steel recycling containers. They will be recycled as scrap metal and replaced with containers manufactured from recycled steels – closing the recycling loop. The LPS Recycling Program provides recycling education and opportunities in all LPS school classrooms, offices and support buildings.  In 2023, LPS was able to reuse, recycle, and compost 3.8 million pounds of material, diverting 54% of its waste from the landfill.

Thank you to Alter Metal Recycling and Sadoff Iron and Metal Company for their continued partnership with this program. And thank you to all of our wonderful community members for their donations!

Sustainability Spotlight: Earth Month Celebrations

This month’s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on the many ways Lincoln Public Schools celebrated Earth Day this year! Students at every grade level engaged with green topics thanks to support from staff, families, and neighbors in their school communities. We’ve pulled together some Earth Month 2024 highlights from around the district.

April 2: S.O.S. Summit

A dozen LPS high schoolers gathered in the Science Focus Program building on April 2 for the second annual Students of Sustainability (S.O.S.) Summit. 

After the LPS Sustainability team shared information about the district’s ongoing green efforts, Lincoln’s Chief Sustainability Officer Kim Morrow walked students through the process that created the city’s Climate Action Plan.

The group brainstormed their shared vision for sustainability in the district, then worked in teams to set specific goals that could help LPS achieve that vision. 

The evening concluded with a presentation from 2024 YLAI Fellow Francisco Voulminot detailing how he turned a university project into a thriving, sustainability-focused business.

April 20: Lincoln Earth Day

LPS Sustainability released the 2023 Annual Sustainability Report in time for Lincoln Earth Day on April 20. 

The report outlines key statistics in areas like waste generation and energy consumption, as well as celebrates awards and events that made 2023 a great year for sustainability at LPS.

Lincoln Earth Day attendees flipped through the report and chatted with LPS Sustainability team members while the booth’s younger visitors completed an earth-themed sorting activity.

April 22: LPS Earth Day

Earth Day fell on Monday, April 22 this year, and the district came together to start the week off strong! Lincoln Public Schools produced a video highlighting how the district supports sustainability year-round.

LPS Superintendent Dr. Paul Gausman starred in the video and later dropped in to Monday afternoon’s environmental club showcase at the Steve Joel District Leadership Center.

Students from five high schools set up booths to share their clubs’ work with staff in the district office. This was also an opportunity to network between schools, and club members swapped stories, stickers, and plant cuttings with their fellow students.

Various Dates: School Activities

Schools around LPS celebrated the earth with activities all month long! Lakeview, Riley, and Randolph Elementaries all hosted Nature Nights for students and their families, and Don Sherrill students created a sustainabili-tree with pledges to help the environment.

Northeast High School students pitched in to help clear out the Culler Middle School courtyard for future planting projects, and many more outdoor spaces across the city saw planting, mulching, and cleanup events throughout the month, too!

From Robinson Elementary’s “Agents of Change” musical to Kloefkorn’s chalk and mosaic art projects, students were also thinking about the Earth from an artist’s perspective just as much as a scientist’s this Earth Month.

Sustainability Spotlight: Itai Trainin at Southeast High School

This month’s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on Itai Trainin, a senior at Southeast High School. Itai currently serves as co-president of Southeast’s NEATure Club and has championed sustainability in the building and beyond since his freshman year.

Itai says he initially joined the club to connect with other students during COVID and then quickly joined NEATure Club’s leadership team. As club president, he is responsible for organizing the annual Earth Week plant sale to fund improvements to the school’s courtyard. 

These plant sales provide an opportunity to spark deeper conversations about sustainability and the environment. “It’s like a little foot in the door,” he said.

“I think that having something to care for... causes you to be more aware of your surroundings and aware of the environment in general.”

Itai and NEATure Club also coordinate a sustainability-themed mural during Earth Week each year. Itai said the club leans on nature puns to get students engaged, and this year they are bringing back the “sustainabili-tree.”

Itai (L) with club co-president Macie at a trunk-or-treat event

“It’s a big paper tree, and then you write down a little sustainable action on a leaf and you put it up there,” Itai said. This format made its debut during Itai’s first year with the club, and he’s excited to bring it back in his final year at Southeast: “I think it’s a nice tie-in for me.”

Outside of Earth Week, Itai and NEATure Club coordinate the courtyard cleanup, community litter cleanups, waste container labels, and various outreach projects. Itai said he is proud to have been a part of cultivating a space for environmentally minded students to come together during his time at Southeast. “I just think it’s really cool to see how many people are invested,” he said.

Southeast's courtyard after a recent cleanup

After graduation, Itai plans to pursue a degree in environmental policy to help bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and actionable change. “I do think the environmental sciences side is very important,” he said, “but what matters more is what we do with that information.”

For Itai, using that information means examining how policy can work to support the people impacted by environmental issues. “I think that most people do not view environmental issues as people issues enough, despite the fact that they very much are,” he said. Because of his focus on individuals and communities, Itai says his two main areas of interest are urban environmentalism and Indigenous environmentalism.

“Environmental policy really is about the environment but to me, at least, the more important aspects of it involve people.”

For other students hoping to get involved with sustainability, Itai recommends finding and building a network to help you accomplish your goals. To connect with fellow student leaders in the district, Itai attended both the 2023 and 2024 Students of Sustainability Summit.

He also collaborates within NEATure Club to generate new ideas and approaches to their shared mission, and advises other students to make connections with LPS staff members, too.

“I think teachers can be a really integral part in [student action],” he said. “Yes, students can do action on their own, but I think it’s very important that a guiding adult can help.”

A recent project led Itai to pursue a solution to eliminate plastic cutlery from Southeast’s cafeteria in favor of reusable metal silverware. “I talked to our principal about ‘who should I contact about this?’, and he gave me a list.” 

That list included LPS Sustainability Coordinator, Brittney Wees, who took Itai’s concern to Nutrition Services. Metal cutlery has since returned to Southeast, all because of Itai’s initiative. “Just getting the word out there, getting a name, is a lot more impactful than people think it is,” he said.

We are so impressed by the passion and drive student leaders like Itai bring to our district! Our team is grateful for Itai’s dedication to sustainability over the years.

Sustainability Spotlight: Lefler Middle School Climate Chronicles Club

This month’s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on Lefler Middle School’s Climate Chronicles Club. The club’s members are working towards an impressive goal: combining activism and the arts into a play about climate change.

A few Lefler students were already in an arts and crafts club led by community volunteer Judy Hart when Hart floated the idea of creating Climate Chronicles. As this new group grew, they began to read and discuss climate-related plays and stories. A shared interest in Hamilton, plus Hart’s decades of theater experience, inspired students to take on writing a play of their own.

The group’s overall enthusiasm for sustainability leads to lively discussions at weekly club meetings. Each student brings a unique perspective and skill set to the planning conversation. Seventh grader Jessie came to a recent meeting prepared with statistics to add to the script, sixth grader Leo asked the group to consider how the storyline could incorporate different types of conflict, and eighth grader Annalee offered to refine the overall storytelling approach. 

Hart encouraged students to consider what they hope an audience will take away from the play. Their responses included waste disposal, climate change’s impacts on people and animals, and even the idea that young people need adults’ help to make change happen.

“I want people to know that this will affect them if they don’t do anything. It’s not just an afterthought.”

Judy Hart and Lefler students set up for club meeting

Sixth-grader Ian also shared that climate change is not the only thing people should consider. “The UN 17 goals are actually pretty nice, too,” he said, “Because they consider various topics like poverty, peace, innovation, and climate change.” Ian joins club meetings from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, via speakerphone and is one of several additional perspectives Hart brings into planning conversations.

Without giving too much away, Hart and Climate Chronicles Club members use their own experiences to inform the interactions between characters in their play. “The whole basis for [these characters] is that they don’t all agree,” Hart said. “They get really loud and they all talk at the same time… but they work through it.”

Climate Chronicles Club is writing the play with a middle school and upper-elementary audience in mind. Lefler sixth grader Jackson said he hopes that other students will “connect the enjoyment of the play to what they learned so they will remember it.” Hart does not yet have plans for a full-scale production, but envisions being able to share the script with the community and other schools once it is complete.

Until then, Climate Chronicles Club will continue to meet and discuss the script and the issues they are all passionate about. These conversations are what seventh-grader Liam called out as his favorite part of his Climate Chronicles experience: “Talking with my friends, talking with Judy, talking about climate change… basically everything that we do in the club.”

We at LPS Sustainability are so impressed by this undertaking, and all the hard work that Judy Hart and Climate Chronicles Club have put into writing this play. We can’t wait to read the final script!

Climate Club Chronicles students recreate a planning discussion

Sustainability Spotlight: Committed Custodians at LPS

This month’s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on some of the district’s standout custodial staff!

LPS custodial teams are an integral part of managing waste programs and supporting sustainability efforts across the district, and these custodians have really gone above and beyond this school year.

Tom Kramer & Edelma Blanco Marroquin, Standing Bear High School

Standing Bear High School opened in August of 2023 with over 20 years of experience in their custodial leadership team. Tom Kramer and Edelma Blanco Marroquin have used their years of knowledge to help school-wide composting across the building succeed.

Kramer said that part of his role as building supervisor is to spend time coaching students and staff through the sorting process when questions arise. “If you’re able to make it a teaching moment, that really helps,” he said.

Assistant custodial supervisor Blanco Marroquin said that she especially enjoys opportunities to learn something new and pass it on to others in the building. One such learning experience came from exploring styrofoam recycling before the building opened.

Teacher workstations, in particular, were packed with a lot of styrofoam padding, so Kramer and Blanco Marroquin worked with LPS Sustainability to coordinate collection and transportation to recycle this unique type of waste. 

Kramer said the styrofoam packaging easily filled two to three garbage bags per workstation. With dozens of these desks throughout the school, the Standing Bear custodial team helped keep a huge amount of styrofoam out of our landfills.

Todd Engle, Lincoln High School

Lincoln High School building supervisor Todd Engle has spent 15 years as part of Lincoln Public Schools’ custodial staff. When Engle and his team noticed the number of waste containers per classroom growing at Lincoln High, he decided it was time to take action.

“Some of the rooms had four or five cans in them,” Engle said, so he reached out to LPS Sustainability and LHS principal Mark Larson to plan for a waste container reset.

Ahead of the reset, Engle presented the plan to the school’s department heads so everyone knew what to expect. The Sustainability team visited LHS over winter break to assist with the reset and labeled, relocated, and sometimes removed bins from each room in the building. 

“The key to doing this successfully is to make sure everybody knows about it before it happens”

Following the reset, waste containers are in a consistent location in every room, which Engle said streamlines the waste collection process for his team. Fewer bins also means a cost savings on plastic liners and an improvement in waste sorting accuracy. “If [students] have the choice of cans, they’ll make the right decisions,” Engle said.

Nozad Ali Jan, Everett Elementary School

Nozad Ali Jan has spent almost a decade as part of LPS’s custodial staff and currently serves as Everett Elementary School’s custodial supervisor. In addition to the building’s day-to-day waste management needs, Ali Jan manages the extra workload of maintaining a clean and safe learning environment in the midst of building-wide construction. 

The current Indoor Air Quality project means ventilation systems, windows, and other areas are being renovated and updated. Ali Jan said he and his team have taken this unique challenge in stride. “It can be a mess, but we are always on top of it,” he said.

Ali Jan said that splitting these additional responsibilities among his team helps them keep the building safe and clean for Everett students and staff while the renovations are happening. Despite the added challenges of supervising a building under construction, he is ready to jump in wherever his help is needed.

Ali Jan also said that his dedicated team and consistent level of pride in his work has garnered positive feedback from other building staff on his efficiency, even in the midst of this construction project.

Everett Building Supervisor Nozad Ali Jan

We are so grateful to have exceptional custodians like these in our district! Every one of them is dedicated to making things a little better for staff and students every day, and we couldn’t imagine LPS without them.

2023 ENERGY STAR Certifications

LPS Sustainability is proud to announce that Lincoln Public Schools earned ENERGY STAR certification for 22 buildings in 2023!

This record-setting number for LPS includes 9 buildings that achieved recertification after also being recognized in 2022. 

ENERGY STAR certifications help track and recognize the impressive sustainability efforts going on across LPS properties.

Buildings districtwide are continuing to improve their ENERGY STAR ratings through a combination of facility upgrades and consistent efforts from the staff and students who occupy them every day.

For example, LED light bulbs reduce a building’s energy usage on their own, but someone switching the lights off when they leave a room makes the impact even bigger!

To be eligible for certification, a building must earn an ENERGY STAR score of at least 75 on a scale of 1 to 100. A rating of 75 reflects that a building operates at an energy efficiency greater than 75% of comparable properties in the United States.

The Certification Process

  • Data Reporting

    Throughout the year, the Sustainability Team enters data on each building's monthly electricity and natural gas usage.

  • Score Calculation

    The eligibility rating system looks at building size and purpose, local climate trends, and reported utility data.

  • Certification

    When a property meets the qualification requirements and wants to pursue certification, an independent licensed professional must verify the building’s efficiency data and overall indoor environmental quality.

Certified Buildings

New Certifications

  • Beattie Elementary- 88
  • Brownell Elementary- 83
  • Campbell Elementary- 88
  • Cavett Elementary- 83
  • Eastridge Elementary- 95
  • Goodrich Middle- 99
  • Lakeview Elementary- 93
  • Moore Middle- 90
  • Morley Elementary- 97
  • Pound Middle- 95
  • Roper Elementary- 89
  • Steve Joel District Leadership Center- 95
  • Zeman Elementary- 93

Recertified from 2022

  • Arnold Elementary- 88
  • Belmont Elementary- 97
  • Fredstrom Elementary- 86
  • Hill Elementary- 93
  • Humann Elementary- 97
  • Irving Middle- 98
  • Lefler Middle- 95
  • Maxey Elementary- 85
  • Pyrtle Elementary- 99

As LPS works to increase building efficiency districtwide, we expect to see even more ENERGY STAR certifications in 2024 and beyond. The next time you visit one of the district’s certified buildings, look for the blue ENERGY STAR decal at the main entrance!

Congratulations to all the Lincoln Public Schools properties that achieved certification for 2023!

Sustainability Spotlight: Green School Activities at Donald D. Sherrill Education Center

This month’s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on the Green Schools Recognition Program activities happening at Donald D. Sherrill Education Center!

Therapist team leader Jamie Austin and psychotherapist Ross Rausch have led their elementary-age students through a number of activities already this school year, with even more planned for 2024. 

Austin serves as this school year’s Sustainability Champion, and said that Rausch has been instrumental in identifying and planning activities for Don Sherrill’s Student Government and Pledge students. This group consists of about a dozen students who have demonstrated ongoing improvement in their behavior and academics.

Jaime Austin (L) and Ross Rausch (R)

The chance to participate in sustainability-related activities has helped motivate students to consistently grow in both of these areas. “I’ve personally heard more students say, ‘I want to get up on Student Government, I want to get on Pledge to do some of those activities,’” Austin said.

The first activity students participated in was a water waste poster-making campaign. “The kids met it with such enthusiasm,” Rausch said.

After they completed their designs, students worked together and decided to hang the posters in places where their peers and Don Sherrill staff would see the water conservation messages.

With momentum from the poster campaign, Austin and Rausch planned a community litter cleanup. The group donned high-visibility vests and worked in teams to pick up litter on and around the school grounds. 

The activity served as a great way to embody Don Sherrill’s core values of working together to succeed and taking pride in both yourself and the building.

“These activities… are an opportunity for them to demonstrate or practice their leadership by giving back to the school and giving back to our community.”

Rausch said that Keep Lincoln & Lancaster County Beautiful’s Mary Carol Bond affirmed these values after the cleanup was complete. “She goes, ‘This is leadership in action, you guys are the leaders of the building,’” Rausch said. “And that’s one of the things that I think we want to connect for the kids.”

Don Sherrill is also one of seven schools in the district taking part in the Hefty ReNew Bag pilot program. Austin says that this addition has opened up even more conversations about sustainability. “We’re starting to see some crossover of teaching our staff,” she said. “It’s not just about the students learning.”

For 2024, Austin and Rausch have plans to continue extending Don Sherrill’s reach into the community. 

Student Government and Pledge students will use donated t-shirts to create dog toys for the humane society, families will be invited to attend a Nature Night in February, and staff are exploring possibilities for the school’s raised garden bed.

Rausch’s advice for schools hoping to get started with Green Schools Recognition Program activities is simple: “Pick one,” he said. “Then lean on the people who know what they’re doing.” 

For the team at Don Sherrill, this expertise has come from community partners, the LPS Sustainability Department, and even from within their building. 

“It’s kind of a collaborative learning between teacher, student, and therapist,” Rausch said. “It’s a shared experience and that, I think, has been why we’ve got the juice or the energy.”

Flyer requesting t-shirt donations

We’re so excited to see the ways the Don Sherrill team is incorporating sustainability in their building! They are well on their way to earning sustainability funding through the Green Schools Recognition Program and are helping their students build connections and confidence in the classroom and beyond.

Sustainability Spotlight: Sheri Christen at Maxey Elementary School

Our last Sustainability Spotlight of 2023 is shining on Sheri Christen at Maxey Elementary School!

Christen is in her 36th year with LPS and her 16th year at Maxey. During her time with the district, she served as a special education teacher and an administrator before becoming Maxey’s school librarian.

Christen’s proximity to the Maxey garden space, as well as her interest in sustainability, prompted her to become the school’s Sustainability Champion. “This is what we need to be doing for our world,” she said.

While Christen plays an integral role in maintaining the school garden, she said that many other people have made the space what it is today. Parents in Maxey’s PTO helped coordinate renovations in 2020 and 2021, and Dr. Doug Golick, Maxey parent and UNL professor, has led students in bee and insect observations. Christen’s husband even created a DIY algae control solution made of straw for the pond.

Because of these collaborative efforts, the garden is a space for everyone at Maxey.

Art teachers bring students into the garden to sketch the landscape, grade-level classrooms visit to read and write in the space, and Christen enlists students to help feed the fish and turtles in the pond.

Recent grant funds provided nature blocks, magnifiers, and bug collection and viewing cups for student use in the space, too.

For those who want to start a garden or other sustainability project at their school, Christen said she understands the feeling of not knowing how or when you will get things done.

What’s important, though, is just getting started. “You almost just have to forge ahead and do it and not worry about if other people are going to jump in and do it or not,” she said.

Christen brings this can-do attitude into her work beyond the garden, as well. 

She serves as co-captain of the Maxey BackPack Program and leads the school’s student “Maximizers” in fundraising efforts for the Lincoln Food Bank BackPack Program. Christen and the Maximizers hold walkathons and coordinate awareness and donation days to support students experiencing food insecurity over weekends and school breaks. 

The Maximizers also play a role in sustainability at the school, collecting recycling from offices and classrooms each week.

Thank you so much to Sheri Christen and everyone at Maxey Elementary School for contributing to sustainability at LPS!

Sustainability Spotlight: Northeast High School STEM Garden Club Tree Planting

Ten new trees have taken root at Northeast High School this week. After noticing a lack of shade in the front of the building, the STEM Garden Club decided to plant trees to keep students cooler while they waited for rides after school. Early College and Career STEM Focus Program Coordinator, Bailey Feit, worked with Garden Club students to secure the approvals, saplings, and community support needed to make the October planting day a reality.

Feit said that the project was especially exciting for club members with an interest in landscape design. Students learned from urban foresters and landscape architects as they drew up plans for the planting locations. These conversations taught students about how to select and space different tree species, as well as career options that allow regular interaction with the outdoors, Feit said.

“There was a lot of navigation process… and a lot of different entities involved.”

When their initial plan was complete, Feit and her students sought approval from the district for their planting project. They incorporated changes from LPS that would allow the trees to remain undisturbed when future improvement projects take place at the school. Garden Club members then called 811 ‘Diggers Hotline’ to make sure they would stay clear of buried wires or pipes when the trees ultimately went in the ground.

A tulip tree sapling waiting to be planted at Northeast High School

With approvals in hand and trees sourced through the Ten Free Trees grant offered by Nebraska Forestry and Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, Northeast students and staff broke ground. Among the dozen or so people who also helped plant on Oct. 30 were staff from the Nebraska Forest Service, Arbor Day Foundation, Lincoln Parks and Recreation, and Nebraska Statewide Arboretum.

“We wanted to make sure these trees could stay for a really long period of time”

Club members like Hoda, a junior at Northeast, have been a part of the project from initial idea through the planting day. Hoda shared that the club has focused mostly on agricultural topics in the past, but the trees are a welcome addition. “It’s been our plan to plant trees for a while, and we’re finally doing it,” she said.

Justin Evertson of the Nebraska Forest Service first heard about the planting day from a coworker and stepped up to offer his expertise. “We’re all part of the team so we dive in and help work,” he said. Before the group began planting, Evertson shared tips on how to trim off looped roots, evaluate an appropriate planting depth, and stake the young trees. Northeast High School is now host to Nebraska-native tree species like chinkapin oak and Ohio buckeye, as well as crabapple and tulip trees.

“I haven't been close to the full effort here at the school this fall, but I can see a lot of really good stuff is going on.”

Evertson demonstrates planting techniques

Feit said the school has plans to incorporate the new trees into science and math curricula, as well as communicating the role of trees in energy savings and sustainability overall. “We’re going to continue to work with Arbor Day Foundation,” she said. “Our ultimate goal at the end is to become the first Nebraska high school… to become a K-12 Tree Campus.” This unique recognition opportunity will involve an Arbor Day celebration next April and collaboration to bring even more trees to schools across Lincoln.

It was amazing to see the help pour in for Northeast’s tree planting day, and from so many different places. Thank you to all the volunteers and especially to the Northeast staff and students who got the ball rolling on this project!

Sustainability Spotlight: Amanda Kester & Jessie James at Roper Elementary School

October’s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on Amanda Kester and Jessie James at Roper Elementary School! In November of 2022 Kester, media paraeducator, assembled Roper’s first tower garden. Since then the school has added a stacked hydroponics system and 19 smaller classroom units. These indoor growing spaces offer a wide range of instructional opportunities, give students a chance to try new foods, and help the school give back to the community. To see the gardens in action, be sure to join us at the upcoming Garden Gathering hosted at Roper in November!

It’s only fitting that this now-thriving indoor garden network got its start at another Garden Gathering. Kester and James, both Roper PTO members, learned about a grant program designed to help bring hydroponics systems into schools and decided to fill out an application. 

Not long after, Green Our Planet awarded the pair with funding and their first garden system arrived.  James shared that the training process was both easy and informative, and the starter plants included in the shipment had their new project “off and growing” in no time.

In just four short weeks, the school had their first harvest. The fresh produce was an instant hit.

Staff across the school began to request tabletop-sized units for their classrooms and offices. Students of all ages now watch a variety of plants mature, and their role in caring for them all as they grow helps instill a sense of responsibility and pride.

"Preschool all the way to fifth grade, everybody’s enjoying it."

James (L) and Kester (R) transplanting a large pepper plant

Students are eager to taste new foods like lettuce, chives, and kale. Their participation in the growing process seems to get even the pickiest of eaters excited for these leafy greens. When James lets students know that the lettuce they are about to enjoy has just been harvested, she says, “I’ve had kids cheer.”

In the library, students read to the sound of the tower garden’s water flowing, and in the art room students draw or paint the growing plants. One fifth grade class tests pH and mineral levels as they add water to each system in the school. 

They record and graph these measurements, and have found that different chemical properties of the water can impact how the produce eventually tastes. 

Summer school students embraced the theme of “growth” and cared for three classroom units, celebrating the end of the term with salads they had grown themselves.

“There’s so much learning that can happen and it can be incorporated in so many different ways.”

The indoor gardens have also strengthened Roper’s existing sense of community. Parents and family members volunteer to help care for classroom units, and some students stop into staff offices just to visit their plants. The produce also connects people within the school and in the greater Lincoln area. 

Roper Elementary provided hydroponically grown produce to supplement their most recent summer food service program, and donated even more to the Food Bank of Lincoln. 

Extra harvests don’t hang around for long during the school year, either–students quickly scoop up the fresh herbs and veggies to take home and share.

“The nice thing about hydroponics is you can grow it year-round and the kids can be part of that throughout the year.”

Kester and James see the potential to grow even more food at Roper Elementary and expand the impact of their gardens. The pair hopes to see Roper establish an outdoor garden eventually, but will continue their indoor growing since the hydroponic systems are low-maintenance and accessible for students of all ages and abilities.

Their goal is for this valuable garden resource to continue even after they are no longer personally involved. Kester and James are working to continue expanding Roper’s network of staff, family, and community volunteers to make sure the gardens keep growing food for years to come.

They advise schools looking to start or expand their hydroponic growing to start small and rely on someone who has excitement and curiosity for the project. Kester also notes that getting the students involved early on is a critical component of an indoor garden’s success. She says, “Once you see [students’] energy for it, it really makes you want to keep doing it.”

We are so grateful for the work Kester and James are doing at Roper Elementary School! Their tower garden and hydroponics systems are an incredible asset to both their students and their community. Register to join us at Roper Elementary on November 8th to hear more about these indoor gardens and how to keep students engaged all year long.

Contact

brittneyBrittney Albin
Sustainability Coordinator
E-mail: balbin@lps.org
Phone: 436-1072 ext. 82007


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