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Seven Oshawa schools earn EcoSchool status |
By Katie Strachan The Oshawa Express Seven Oshawa schools were recognized for their achievements in the Ontario EcoSchools program Monday night. The EcoSchools program is an environmental education program that addresses environmental learning for all students within the classrooms. The school boards designed the program and recognition is awarded in gold, silver or bronze status. The Durham District School Board (DDSB) schools recognized Monday night by Mayor John Gray and council members include: Pierre Elliot Trudeau Public School, which received gold status; O’Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute, Adelaide McLaughlin Public School and T.R McEwan Public School, all of which received silver statuses. I’m thrilled to recognize Oshawa’s first seven schools within the program,” says Judy Gould, Waste and Energy Officer for the DDSB. A number of students, teachers and principals were on hand for the celebrations and to accept the awards on behalf of their schools. The schools that received recognition for their achievements within the Catholic District School Board were St. John Bosco Catholic School on their gold status, St. Christopher Catholic School on their silver status and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School on their bronze status.“Gold status is certainly not easy to achieve but not easy at all in your first year,” says Gould of Pierre Elliot Trudeau and St. John Bosco’s awards. To achieve an EcoSchool status a school must demonstrate knowledge in all four categories on the program. The key focuses of the program are on energy conservation, school ground greening, waste minimization and ecological literacy. The entire school must implement knowledge in these key areas. Points are awarded following the strict guidelines of the EcoSchools resources and the schools status is determined at the end of the year, depending on the number of points earned, according to Gould. Schools must re-apply for the program each year to ensure a “greener” school is being kept up. The purpose of EcoSchools is to provide teachers with environmental education resources, provide guides that promote taking individual action to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in our air, align what is taught within the classroom in the school and to save money and reduce the ecological footprint. “Thanks for all the support from the principals to the teachers to the trustees to the students,” says Mayor Gray, “In my experience the youngest citizens help to drive the message home. So thank you for your commitments.” |
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©2008 Dowellman Publishing Corp, All Rights Reserved
