Sustainability Spotlight: Katie Mohr at Norwood Park
This month’s sustainability spotlight is shining on Katie Mohr at Norwood Park Elementary School. Mohr is an academic interventionist who has been at Norwood Park for 10 years and is in her second year serving as the Sustainability Champion.
With help from Mohr, Norwood Park has been busy completing and reporting activities for the Green Schools Recognition Program. Some of the green activities include participating in the Trick or Trash Recycling Program, collecting markers for the TerraCycle BIC Recycling Program, planting microgreens indoors, promoting the Cans4Books Recycling Drive, and hosting a Bike Rodeo. Additionally, Norwood Park was very busy with garden activities since getting their first raised garden beds this past fall. Mohr noticed that staff were taking students outside to learn but there was no place for them to gather.
“When the weather was nice enough, some teachers were bringing their classes outside to do classwork. However, we didn’t have a dedicated space for this, so it was either students sitting in patches of grass or on cement areas. I brought the idea of creating an outdoor learning/garden space to our administration and they were fully supportive from the beginning.”
Support from school staff, CLC staff, and the PTO was monumental in getting the Norwood Park garden off the ground. Students also helped plan the development of an outdoor learning area and were excited to see their vision come to life.
“Student interest has been high from the beginning, but once our garden beds were actually built and we could really envision the space; it was exciting!”
To celebrate Earth Day, Norwood Park had a ‘Wake the Beds’ garden event where they invited families to come out and help with the first planting. Students and their families plowed soil and planted carrots, radishes, green onions, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and herbs. They currently have four garden beds and one pollinator bed. The Career Academy and Nebraska Statewide Arboretum Bloom Box project partnered with Norwood Park to procure plants and frame the beds.
“Depending on how things grow this first year, we are hoping to invite families to come pick things when they are ready to harvest. We have also discussed incorporating harvested crops into a cooking activity or club.”
Mohr finds that the surrounding community can play a key role in achieving sustainability initiatives. She has worked on large projects since becoming champion and advises other schools to reach out to their community for support.
“Finding and utilizing school and community partners has been a great benefit for us. Our CLC and PTO have offered support and we really appreciate any community contributions and resources we have been fortunate enough to obtain. Start small if needed and work your way up to bigger events.”
Going forward, Mohr is excited to continue making changes in her school community. She is hoping to continue to grow the Norwood Park outdoor learning space, and is interested in starting new initiatives next year like becoming a K-12 Tree Campus and expanding their compost collection.
Thank you to Katie Mohr for being a champion of sustainability in our district!
Updated March 14, 2024
