Boyd collects environmental award for third straight year
|
The award, given by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, is one of several given statewide to recognize public and private schools that have incorporated environmental and conservation awareness into their curriculum. As this marked the third straight year Boyd has won the award the school was given “continual achiever status,” an honor given thus far to only six schools across the state.
“Receiving the K-12 Environmental Awareness Award requires schools to go beyond incorporating environmental education just in the typical lecture/homework format,” said Ernie Blankenship, special assistant to TDEC Commissioner Milton H. Hamilton Jr. “F.C. Boyd has done this in a number of ways and to achieve this award three years in a row is quite an honor.”
Blankenship said helping Boyd to win the Environmental Awareness Award yet again was the fact the school’s environmental education program has, since its inception in 1999, doubled in size and quantity and now includes the entire school, from high school students to kindergartners.
A perfect example of this is the school’s recycling program. Each year the school’s National Honor Society members teach a one-hour lesson to elementary grade students on recycling. Following this is a four-week aluminum can drive in which the classes compete against each other. The school also collects ink cartridges, old Christmas trees, cardboard and paper for recycling. Last year, Boyd won the county’s phone book recycling contest.
A portion of the money collected from these recycling projects goes toward maintaining the school’s teaching greenhouse which is used by biology II students. Grown in it are native plant species which are then sold, as is organic soil made by the students.
Another environmentally friendly practice is the construction and maintenance of the school’s water garden, which is overseen by chemistry and greenhouse management students.
The force behind Boyd’s environmental and conservation push is high school science teacher Twan Majors. She gave credit for the award, however, to the school’s administration. “Without their help and support, this wouldn’t have been possible. They see environmental education as a priority, not just something to teach,” she said.
Majors was recognized for own efforts though, as she was awarded TDEC’s Commissioner’s Gold Star Teacher Award. This award recognizes a select group of teachers who have “exhibited years of dedicated service to molding young minds regarding environmental/conservation stewardship.”
Majors is one of only eight educators statewide to receive the prestigious award.