Sustainability Spotlight: Andrea Jenkins at Everett Elementary

The November Sustainability Spotlight shines on Andrea Jenkins at Everett Elementary! Jenkins is an art teacher at Everett and has also served as the school sustainability champion since 2016. As the Sustainability Champion, she supports student engagement in green projects such as the garden club, recycled art projects, and Earth Day celebrations. 

Jenkins chose to be a sustainability champion and lead the Everett Green Team because she recognized the importance of students seeing the difference they can make in their school’s sustainability.  Jenkins loves to see kids get enthusiastic and take action. “It’s empowering for them to know that they can make a difference and that they are already doing things to help every day, like composting at lunch,” she commented.

The Everett Green Team participates in a wide array of activities that provide hands-on sustainability education to students. Some of these green activities include going on nature walks, conducting classes outside, and participating in neighborhood clean-up projects to help the surrounding community.

In addition to these incredible projects, the school garden has created even more opportunities for green engagement! Jenkins and the students have worked hard to create an incredible and educational outdoor space at Everett. Over the years, they have partnered with many community organizations and people to keep the garden growing and improving. Currently, school garden clubs, nature clubs, science clubs, and even cooking clubs have used the space to learn and explore. Teachers often utilize the outdoor space during class time to learn about butterflies and pollination, plant drawing, outdoor reading, and other activities. During the summer the garden is frequently used for the summer art program. Future plans include expanding the garden space to allow for more outdoor learning areas and a community garden.

This year, Jenkins and her students are keeping up their momentum with many green activities in the works. They are planning to grow new plants in the tower garden, start seedlings for the outdoor garden space, and create signage for the school that will encourage the Everett community to “Think Green”. Everett was able to earn funding during the 2020-21 Green Schools Recognition Program and those proceeds will support creating more accessible spaces for students with special needs to interact with the garden and courtyard areas. 

Jenkins encourages all teachers and staff who want to implement sustainability efforts or become a sustainability champion to start small and gain support. “Look at the things you are already doing at school and build from there. It is easy to get enthused when you see how empowering it is for kids to participate,” said Jenkins.

Thank you Andrea Jenkins and Everett Elementary for being a champion of sustainability in our district!