CUMBERLAND – It may no longer be the season to deck the halls with boughs of holly, but the Cumberland School system is still thinking green. From offering four high school courses in sustainability, to introducing a recycling program at the elementary school, to winning the Virginia School Board Association's Green School's Challenge, this school year has seen the greening of the Cumberland schools.

Last fall, high school students could be seen shouldering large black trash bags full of recyclables down the elementary school halls.

The students of Angela Whittaker's Sustainability And Renewable Technologies class spent the beginning of the year initiating the Recycle-Bowl for the school division, focusing particularly on the elementary school. Whittaker requires her students to complete a major learning project that will be a service to the community around them.

And this cohort of students decided to help the elementary school develop a recycling program. While the high and middle schools already regularly sort and recycle their trash, as well as intentionally seeking to reduce paper waste through use of technology and reduction of paper waste, the elementary school did not previously have a recycling program.

The sustainability students designed a presentation for the school administrators and supervisors about Recycle-Bowl, a competition sponsored by Keep America Beautiful that pits schools against each other to see which can collect the most pounds of recyclables per student.

As part of the extensive project, the students created recycling containers and instructions with pictures about what can be recycled. They also designed a presentation for elementary school students to kick off the event, including a song and dance about a friendly dinosaur, Recycle Rex.

Once the competition began, students paid regular visits to the elementary school. Equipped with plastic trash bags, they politely knocked on classroom doors, going room to room to collect recyclables.

Slipping on plastic gloves, they sorted through the recyclables as they collected them, carefully separating paper, aluminum and plastic.

Students Ben Holt and Princess Royal talked about their favorite part of the project while emptying the art room's recycling can. This is a tricky stop, requiring extra sorting efforts because crafty odds and ends slip in with the recyclable.

Holt describes the elementary student's reaction to the Recycle-Bowl as he picks through pieces of craft paper, mixed with glitter and glue, “the kids got excited and were bringing all their recyclables from home and there were like trash cans full of aluminum.” Royal went on to say that she enjoyed seeing the kids' faces as her class presented about the Recycle-Bowl.

Elementary school Principal Mark Mabey agrees that the students were excited by the high schoolers' presentation. “The kids really enjoyed the presentation by the students,” he said, adding that the high school students explained the concept in a way that the elementary students could understand and even provided opportunities for the students to be involved.

According to Whittaker, in four days, the elementary school recycled more than the middle and high school usually do in a month.

But, this project isn't just about saving the earth. Whittaker points to the planning and public speaking skills the students had to practice, abilities that will surely help them beyond high school.

Whittaker also proudly points to other projects students have helped complete, such as the installation of the solar panel outside the high school's main entrance. Whittaker applied for grants from Dominion Power several years and won, helping fund the project. This past year, she was awarded $4,000 from Dominion to aid in the project, which will also provide a hands-on learning opportunity for middle and high school students as they collect data from the solar technology.

These projects are simply a continuation of Whittaker's philosophy of education, “It's their world. It's their education. They need to own it. They need to be the driver in it.” For Whittaker, this is what 21st Century Learning, an educational emphasis for the Cumberland school system, is all about.

And, they seem to have truly taken ownership. When Holt was asked what he had learned from the class, he talked about the excitement when the Recycle-Bowl project first started at the elementary school, adding that he had learned, “you're never too young to make a difference.”

Whittaker not only wants her students to own their education, but also design projects that others can own. These sorts of projects need to “be sustainable without you,” Whittaker said.

And this project certainly has been. Since the Recycle-Bowl has finished, the elementary school has continued the recycle effort, something it had not been doing in the past.

Principal Mabey also added that “the students and teachers are much more aware, from the Recycle-Bowl, as to what is expected and what they need to do to help out.” Students now even help remind teachers to turn off lights.

Mabey continued, “the over all understanding of what can be recycled and what needs to be done from a green perspective has grown from the [Recycle-] Bowl… That was just a step for the students and teachers to start to really work on going green.”

The high school students' regular trips to collect the materials at the elementary school was also beneficial for younger students. Mabey shared, “our second grade requested to continue to collect paper, which came from them seeing the older kids collect it… during the [Recycle-]Bowl time.” Mirroring the high school students, they go to the classrooms each Monday to gather paper for the weekly pick-up.

Royal, a senior, hopes to study psychology at Christopher Newport. She commented that the biggest thing she's learned so far in Whittaker's course is “how much what we do impacts the earth.”

The district collected over 1,115 pounds of paper alone, over half of which came from the elementary school, during the one-month long Recycle-Bowl.

Whittaker points out that the paper saved is equivalent to saving eight trees, or 145 gallons of oil, or 1.5 cubic yards of landfill space, or 2,000 kilowatts of energy or 3,500 gallons of water.

History of Sustainability

Three years ago, Whittaker saw a need for teaching sustainability. Her motivation came from looking at the world around her. “The world as we know it is changed. There are environmental, social issues, economic issues, that if we don't correct them, many people, at all levels, recognize we're in trouble here.”

Whittaker was a fulltime special education teacher at the time. She didn't see secondary education addressing those concerns in a significant way. She approached administration about bringing sustainability instruction to Cumberland. She proposed a grand vision, involving a regional center.

But, resources were tight. She remembers, “we cut 30 staff that year.” And the funding for a region-wide center just wasn't available, according to now Superintendent of Schools Dr. Amy Griffin.

But the school wanted to do something. Although the budget had to be cut in other areas, Griffin stated that “always, when we were doing budget cuts, we tried not to limit the options for our students.”

Griffin also feels the issue of sustainability is important, “Its an area for the future… we're trying to make sure our students are prepared for the future.”

So they added one class that year. Two classes the next year.

This year, Whittaker is a fulltime sustainability teacher with four courses related to sustainability. Besides being certified to teach Environmental Science in Virginia, Whittaker states that she has also acquired her Leadership in Energy Efficient Design Green Associate credential, an industry credential that allows her to work in the field.

To prepare herself to teach the sustainability courses, Whittaker also attended a continuing education program offered by North Carolina State University's Solar Center on renewable energy and green building design, receiving a diploma in renewable technology from the program.

And she does more than teach her courses. She has designed the courses, as well, with the help of the Career and Technical Education Resource Center. The center supports career and technical education in public schools statewide and is administered by the Henrico County Public Schools on behalf of the Virginia Department of Education.

Whittaker designed her course “Sustainability And Renewable Technology,” which focuses on sustainability as a whole, with their help. It was proposed to the Virginia Department of Education and ran as a pilot program for one year. Now it has been validated and approved as a course for credit anywhere in the state of Virginia.

Whittaker's other three courses cover the topics of renewable energy, green building design and sustainable horticulture.

She points out that Virginia is the “only state on the East Coast that has the stand alone high school level courses.” Adding that similar courses are even rare in the community college systems in this area.

Now that the school offers four courses, Griffin anticipates tying them together as a cohesive pathway. “We really wanted to be on the cutting edges as well in Virginia and the United States as far as developing with sustainability and renewable energy,” she said.

Beginning with this year's freshmen, all high school students graduating with a standard diploma will also need a career certification. The certification will require the completion of two or three courses in a specific field and passing a certification test.

Griffin said that the division is currently working with the Virginia Department of Education to discern what type of certification test would be required to allow the sustainability courses to lead to a career certification.

And, due to student interest, the division is also working to expand sustainability learning opportunities into the middle school, according to Griffin.

Not Just About The Earth

For Whittaker, the sustainability courses are not just about preserving the earth, but about helping her students excel at math and science, while teaching them to be active and thoughtful adults.

She teaches subjects such as physics, math and chemistry in a hands-on, practical way. Her classroom is full of working models for students to learn with, from solar panels to circuit boards to wind turbines.

Whittaker points out, “These are hard courses… You're not going to sit in here and kind of half-way pay attention. They are very active. And its not things that students are typically familiar with.”

A common denominator when talking to her students is the concession that Whittaker's classes aren't easy. Jasmine Cooper was worried when she started the sustainability class, “I thought it was going to be hard, because everybody was telling me it was hard.” But, she also enthusiastically shared about how much recycling the elementary students brought during the first week of the Recycle-Bowl and admitted that when she actually started the class she realized it wasn't that difficult, adding that now she really enjoys it.

Whittaker knows it can be hard for students to adjust, “But, after I get them hooked… they love it.”

Holt, who hopes to either study chemistry at New York University or the culinary arts, has found the sustainability course challenging. But, he mentions starting off the semester with the Recycle-Bowl project, and enthusiastically adds “We just started doing stuff.”

Holt said that this was consistent with the whole course so far, adding that there is “not as much busy work as other classes. We get on point when we do things…” He chose the class because he felt it would help prepare him for college and, so far, he has not been disappointed.

Griffin is also pleased with the amount of project-based learning and critical thinking skills that are instilled through the sustainability courses. She believes they are in line with where the division is headed, focusing on increased critical thinking skills and problem solving abilities in its students.

Besides teaching science and math to her students, Whittaker believes her courses bring other benefits to the community: “Everyone thinks of green building and sustainability and thinks it's for the environment. It's also for the economy and the local economy and for health.”

For example, after completing the course in green building design, students are able to test for credentials such as the National Center for Construction Education and Research's Core Craft Skills, according to a school publication.

Whittaker points to a lack of professionals located in rural central Virginia that install solar panels. She says that if students take a couple of her courses they will leave “with skills that you won't find in the central Virginia work force.”

She sees them being able to use their credentials in green building design to work for local contractors who may need to install solar panels or a geo-thermal heat system in a home they are building. “It puts them way ahead of a lot of workforce employees right now that are on the job, that the employer is trying to figure out, 'How am I going to train them?' These kids are going to have very marketable skills.”

Even if they decide not to make their newfound knowledge into a career, Whittaker sees her students now being able to run their own businesses and future homes more sustainable.

Green Schools

Whittaker's sustainability courses aren't the only way Cumberland schools are going green. The division was the winner of the Virginia School Board Association Green School Challenge this past November in the category of schools containing less than 5,000 students.

The challenge is designed to encourage implementation of specific environmental policies and practical actions that could reduce the carbon emissions generated by the schools itself and the broader community.

In addition, the schools have received a grant, allowing applications for jobs and evaluations to be completed online.

The online job application website was designed by Catina Settle, human resources and licensure specialist in the personnel department. Griffin was also very pleased with Settle's job designing the pages, praising how colorful and inviting they were in comparison to the bland hard copies the school printed out for applicants on a regular basis before.

During a short presentation at the October school board meeting, Director of Human Resources Elizabeth Jamerson also pointed out that the applications can be reviewed online by administration, removing the need for extraneous paper waste. She emphasized that this was good, “because we are big on going green.”

Teacher evaluations are also completed and viewed online now. The newly integrated system even allows appointments to be scheduled through the site.

According to Jamerson the online applications have streamlined the process and allowed the division to save a lot of paper, fitting in well with its green initiative goals.

In the end, Whittaker sees sustainability efforts not as a means of preserving the earth but of preserving humanity. “The earth's going to be fine. It's not the earth we'll have to worry about. It's whether or not we'll be able to live on it.”

And, she is willing to do something about it. From inspiring students, to teaching electricity, to applying for grants, “This is my effort at changing the world,” Whittaker says.

And, she's not the only one. Cumberland's school district, as a whole, seems determined to minimize its negative impact on the environment, while teaching students to do the same.

While the long-term effects of these efforts can be difficult to judge, it is evident that Cumberland students are gaining the skills and practice needed to live on the earth and leave a positive mark here and now.

CUMBERLAND – It may no longer be the season to deck the halls with boughs of holly, but the Cumberland School system is still thinking green. From offering four high school courses in sustainability, to introducing a recycling program at the elementary school, to winning the Virginia School Board Association's Green School's Challenge, this school year has seen the greening of the Cumberland schools.

Last fall, high school students could be seen shouldering large black trash bags full of recyclables down the elementary school halls.

The students of Angela Whittaker's Sustainability And Renewable Technologies class spent the beginning of the year initiating the Recycle-Bowl for the school division, focusing particularly on the elementary school. Whittaker requires her students to complete a major learning project that will be a service to the community around them.

And this cohort of students decided to help the elementary school develop a recycling program. While the high and middle schools already regularly sort and recycle their trash, as well as intentionally seeking to reduce paper waste through use of technology and reduction of paper waste, the elementary school did not previously have a recycling program.

The sustainability students designed a presentation for the school administrators and supervisors about Recycle-Bowl, a competition sponsored by Keep America Beautiful that pits schools against each other to see which can collect the most pounds of recyclables per student.

As part of the extensive project, the students created recycling containers and instructions with pictures about what can be recycled. They also designed a presentation for elementary school students to kick off the event, including a song and dance about a friendly dinosaur, Recycle Rex.

Once the competition began, students paid regular visits to the elementary school. Equipped with plastic trash bags, they politely knocked on classroom doors, going room to room to collect recyclables.

Slipping on plastic gloves, they sorted through the recyclables as they collected them, carefully separating paper, aluminum and plastic.

Students Ben Holt and Princess Royal talked about their favorite part of the project while emptying the art room's recycling can. This is a tricky stop, requiring extra sorting efforts because crafty odds and ends slip in with the recyclable.

Holt describes the elementary student's reaction to the Recycle-Bowl as he picks through pieces of craft paper, mixed with glitter and glue, “the kids got excited and were bringing all their recyclables from home and there were like trash cans full of aluminum.” Royal went on to say that she enjoyed seeing the kids' faces as her class presented about the Recycle-Bowl.

Elementary school Principal Mark Mabey agrees that the students were excited by the high schoolers' presentation. “The kids really enjoyed the presentation by the students,” he said, adding that the high school students explained the concept in a way that the elementary students could understand and even provided opportunities for the students to be involved.

According to Whittaker, in four days, the elementary school recycled more than the middle and high school usually do in a month.

But, this project isn't just about saving the earth. Whittaker points to the planning and public speaking skills the students had to practice, abilities that will surely help them beyond high school.

Whittaker also proudly points to other projects students have helped complete, such as the installation of the solar panel outside the high school's main entrance. Whittaker applied for grants from Dominion Power several years and won, helping fund the project. This past year, she was awarded $4,000 from Dominion to aid in the project, which will also provide a hands-on learning opportunity for middle and high school students as they collect data from the solar technology.

These projects are simply a continuation of Whittaker's philosophy of education, “It's their world. It's their education. They need to own it. They need to be the driver in it.” For Whittaker, this is what 21st Century Learning, an educational emphasis for the Cumberland school system, is all about.

And, they seem to have truly taken ownership. When Holt was asked what he had learned from the class, he talked about the excitement when the Recycle-Bowl project first started at the elementary school, adding that he had learned, “you're never too young to make a difference.”

Whittaker not only wants her students to own their education, but also design projects that others can own. These sorts of projects need to “be sustainable without you,” Whittaker said.

And this project certainly has been. Since the Recycle-Bowl has finished, the elementary school has continued the recycle effort, something it had not been doing in the past.

Principal Mabey also added that “the students and teachers are much more aware, from the Recycle-Bowl, as to what is expected and what they need to do to help out.” Students now even help remind teachers to turn off lights.

Mabey continued, “the over all understanding of what can be recycled and what needs to be done from a green perspective has grown from the [Recycle-] Bowl… That was just a step for the students and teachers to start to really work on going green.”

The high school students' regular trips to collect the materials at the elementary school was also beneficial for younger students. Mabey shared, “our second grade requested to continue to collect paper, which came from them seeing the older kids collect it… during the [Recycle-]Bowl time.” Mirroring the high school students, they go to the classrooms each Monday to gather paper for the weekly pick-up.

Royal, a senior, hopes to study psychology at Christopher Newport. She commented that the biggest thing she's learned so far in Whittaker's course is “how much what we do impacts the earth.”

The district collected over 1,115 pounds of paper alone, over half of which came from the elementary school, during the one-month long Recycle-Bowl.

Whittaker points out that the paper saved is equivalent to saving eight trees, or 145 gallons of oil, or 1.5 cubic yards of landfill space, or 2,000 kilowatts of energy or 3,500 gallons of water.

History of Sustainability

Three years ago, Whittaker saw a need for teaching sustainability. Her motivation came from looking at the world around her. “The world as we know it is changed. There are environmental, social issues, economic issues, that if we don't correct them, many people, at all levels, recognize we're in trouble here.”

Whittaker was a fulltime special education teacher at the time. She didn't see secondary education addressing those concerns in a significant way. She approached administration about bringing sustainability instruction to Cumberland. She proposed a grand vision, involving a regional center.

But, resources were tight. She remembers, “we cut 30 staff that year.” And the funding for a region-wide center just wasn't available, according to now Superintendent of Schools Dr. Amy Griffin.

But the school wanted to do something. Although the budget had to be cut in other areas, Griffin stated that “always, when we were doing budget cuts, we tried not to limit the options for our students.”

Griffin also feels the issue of sustainability is important, “Its an area for the future… we're trying to make sure our students are prepared for the future.”

So they added one class that year. Two classes the next year.

This year, Whittaker is a fulltime sustainability teacher with four courses related to sustainability. Besides being certified to teach Environmental Science in Virginia, Whittaker states that she has also acquired her Leadership in Energy Efficient Design Green Associate credential, an industry credential that allows her to work in the field.

To prepare herself to teach the sustainability courses, Whittaker also attended a continuing education program offered by North Carolina State University's Solar Center on renewable energy and green building design, receiving a diploma in renewable technology from the program.

And she does more than teach her courses. She has designed the courses, as well, with the help of the Career and Technical Education Resource Center. The center supports career and technical education in public schools statewide and is administered by the Henrico County Public Schools on behalf of the Virginia Department of Education.

Whittaker designed her course “Sustainability And Renewable Technology,” which focuses on sustainability as a whole, with their help. It was proposed to the Virginia Department of Education and ran as a pilot program for one year. Now it has been validated and approved as a course for credit anywhere in the state of Virginia.

Whittaker's other three courses cover the topics of renewable energy, green building design and sustainable horticulture.

She points out that Virginia is the “only state on the East Coast that has the stand alone high school level courses.” Adding that similar courses are even rare in the community college systems in this area.

Now that the school offers four courses, Griffin anticipates tying them together as a cohesive pathway. “We really wanted to be on the cutting edges as well in Virginia and the United States as far as developing with sustainability and renewable energy,” she said.

Beginning with this year's freshmen, all high school students graduating with a standard diploma will also need a career certification. The certification will require the completion of two or three courses in a specific field and passing a certification test.

Griffin said that the division is currently working with the Virginia Department of Education to discern what type of certification test would be required to allow the sustainability courses to lead to a career certification.

And, due to student interest, the division is also working to expand sustainability learning opportunities into the middle school, according to Griffin.

Not Just About The Earth

For Whittaker, the sustainability courses are not just about preserving the earth, but about helping her students excel at math and science, while teaching them to be active and thoughtful adults.

She teaches subjects such as physics, math and chemistry in a hands-on, practical way. Her classroom is full of working models for students to learn with, from solar panels to circuit boards to wind turbines.

Whittaker points out, “These are hard courses… You're not going to sit in here and kind of half-way pay attention. They are very active. And its not things that students are typically familiar with.”

A common denominator when talking to her students is the concession that Whittaker's classes aren't easy. Jasmine Cooper was worried when she started the sustainability class, “I thought it was going to be hard, because everybody was telling me it was hard.” But, she also enthusiastically shared about how much recycling the elementary students brought during the first week of the Recycle-Bowl and admitted that when she actually started the class she realized it wasn't that difficult, adding that now she really enjoys it.

Whittaker knows it can be hard for students to adjust, “But, after I get them hooked… they love it.”

Holt, who hopes to either study chemistry at New York University or the culinary arts, has found the sustainability course challenging. But, he mentions starting off the semester with the Recycle-Bowl project, and enthusiastically adds “We just started doing stuff.”

Holt said that this was consistent with the whole course so far, adding that there is “not as much busy work as other classes. We get on point when we do things…” He chose the class because he felt it would help prepare him for college and, so far, he has not been disappointed.

Griffin is also pleased with the amount of project-based learning and critical thinking skills that are instilled through the sustainability courses. She believes they are in line with where the division is headed, focusing on increased critical thinking skills and problem solving abilities in its students.

Besides teaching science and math to her students, Whittaker believes her courses bring other benefits to the community: “Everyone thinks of green building and sustainability and thinks it's for the environment. It's also for the economy and the local economy and for health.”

For example, after completing the course in green building design, students are able to test for credentials such as the National Center for Construction Education and Research's Core Craft Skills, according to a school publication.

Whittaker points to a lack of professionals located in rural central Virginia that install solar panels. She says that if students take a couple of her courses they will leave “with skills that you won't find in the central Virginia work force.”

She sees them being able to use their credentials in green building design to work for local contractors who may need to install solar panels or a geo-thermal heat system in a home they are building. “It puts them way ahead of a lot of workforce employees right now that are on the job, that the employer is trying to figure out, 'How am I going to train them?' These kids are going to have very marketable skills.”

Even if they decide not to make their newfound knowledge into a career, Whittaker sees her students now being able to run their own businesses and future homes more sustainable.

Green Schools

Whittaker's sustainability courses aren't the only way Cumberland schools are going green. The division was the winner of the Virginia School Board Association Green School Challenge this past November in the category of schools containing less than 5,000 students.

The challenge is designed to encourage implementation of specific environmental policies and practical actions that could reduce the carbon emissions generated by the schools itself and the broader community.

In addition, the schools have received a grant, allowing applications for jobs and evaluations to be completed online.

The online job application website was designed by Catina Settle, human resources and licensure specialist in the personnel department. Griffin was also very pleased with Settle's job designing the pages, praising how colorful and inviting they were in comparison to the bland hard copies the school printed out for applicants on a regular basis before.

During a short presentation at the October school board meeting, Director of Human Resources Elizabeth Jamerson also pointed out that the applications can be reviewed online by administration, removing the need for extraneous paper waste. She emphasized that this was good, “because we are big on going green.”

Teacher evaluations are also completed and viewed online now. The newly integrated system even allows appointments to be scheduled through the site.

According to Jamerson the online applications have streamlined the process and allowed the division to save a lot of paper, fitting in well with its green initiative goals.

In the end, Whittaker sees sustainability efforts not as a means of preserving the earth but of preserving humanity. “The earth's going to be fine. It's not the earth we'll have to worry about. It's whether or not we'll be able to live on it.”

And, she is willing to do something about it. From inspiring students, to teaching electricity, to applying for grants, “This is my effort at changing the world,” Whittaker says.

And, she's not the only one. Cumberland's school district, as a whole, seems determined to minimize its negative impact on the environment, while teaching students to do the same.

While the long-term effects of these efforts can be difficult to judge, it is evident that Cumberland students are gaining the skills and practice needed to live on the earth and leave a positive mark here and now.