Friday, October 14, 2011

Investigating Village Recycling program

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Another great recycling resource: e-mail: SPA - PEP RecycleRally Website: http://www.dreammachinerecyclerally.com/  . I received the following e-mail as part of my follow-up for Salman’s interest in recycling.


The Dream Machine Recycle Rally is scheduled to continue past the end of the 2011 school year and straight into 2012. With this in mind, you are invited to apply and recycle to your heart's content. In fact, we have schools with summer programs and community support that plan to keep up their recycling well into the summer months and into the next school year.

This is a multi-year program and we are excited to have you in the program now and next school year as well, and we are working on program details for the 2011-2012 school year which should be announced in the near future. . At that point, all information will be on our website and we encourage you to check back there for updates or email us again at that time for more details. What we can suggest is that once you have full school administration authorization to apply for the Recycle Rally, that you apply so that we can begin the review process as soon as possible. This can at times be a lengthy process if you are not already service by our project partner, Waste Management. In addition, although all details are not publicly available, you might keep in mind that our next major contest has a requirement that a school apply by August 1st in order to participate.

The great thing about this program is that the purpose of this initiative is to increase recycling overall and with that in mind, all #1 PET and aluminum cans should scan for points. We have about 175,000 UPC codes of these types in our system. Products of different companies are included in the program. While participating in the program, if something of these material types does not earn points, sometimes that is due to new and promotional products with unique UPC codes or perhaps something we have not yet included in our system. We have a support team that can elaborate on this for participants as well as add UPCs into the system.

We look forward to your participation in the upcoming 2011/2012 school year, we’re expanding our rewards and contests platforms so that more schools have even more rewards opportunities and chances to win contest prizes as well as a modified method of processing the recyclables which promises to be more convenient for Recycle Rally participants.

Again, we thank you for your interest and look forward to working with Casady School in the future.


Regards,  The Dream Machine Recycle Rally Team

Sunday, October 2, 2011

NAIS challenge 20/20 partnership 2011-2012

What is Challenge 20/20:  See video at: http://www.nais.org/global/movie.cfm?ItemNumber=149859

Dear Challenge 20/20 Team,

The NAIS Global Initiatives team would like to thank you for participating in the 2011-2012 Challenge 20/20 program. This is a program that is being received with great interest and commitment by schools from many countries. We have received hundreds of applications from schools from many different countries and many states in the US, and we have been able to partner many schools. Our hope is that the Challenge 20/20 partnerships among schools across the globe will provide an excellent foundation for meaningful problem-solving and cross continent relationships that lead to a more promising global future for our students and our schools.

Here is some information about your team.
Number of schools in team: 2
Global problem assigned: Global warming-carbon footprint, energy audits
Grade level of team: 9-12 (upper school)
Term: 2011-2012: Term Two - Jan-May - Report due May 4

Your team's primary contact is:
Carmen Clay, Casady School, clayc@casady.org
(NAIS selects the team's primary contact when the partnerships are first created.)
Below, please find the contact information for all of the schools on your team:

School: Casady School, 9500 North Pennsylvania, Oklahoma City, OK, USA, http://www.casady.org/, School type: Independent/Private, School size: large (701+), Participating students' grade level: 9-12 (upper school), Teacher Leaders: Mr. Mark Delgrosso, Biology Teacher, delgrossom@casady.org; Carmen Clay, Rainbolt Family Service Learning Chair, clayc@casady.org, Phone: 405-749-3103, Fax: 405-749-3214, School Contact: Carmen Clay, Rainbolt Family Service Learning Chair, clayc@casady.org, Phone: 405-749-3103, Fax: 405-749-3214

School: METU Developmental Foundation High School, ODTU Yerleskesi Inonu Bulvari, Ankara, Ankara, Turkey, http://www.odtugvo.k12.tr/, School type: Independent/Private, School size: medium (201-700), Participating students' grade level: 9-12 (upper school), Teacher Leader: Secil Nazlier, Biology teacher, snazlier@odtugvo.k12.tr, Phone: 00903122101182, School Contact: Secil Nazlier, Biology teacher, snazlier@odtugvo.k12.tr, Phone: 00903122101182

Please proceed by contacting your partner school/s and making all the necessary arrangements to begin your collaborative work on Challenge 20/20. The program is very flexible and we allow you as a team to create your own curriculum, design the program and schedule time for students and teachers to communicate.

Many schools selected up to five global problems of interest and we worked hard to identify partners for schools with similar interests and grade levels of students. Our preference is that you work on your assigned global problem. However, if your team wishes to work on a global problem that is different than the one you have been assigned, please communicate with your assigned partner school/s and decide on the final global problem within the partnership. If all schools agree, please send me a message at wheeler@nais.org and I will change the topic in our database. Your final global problem must be highlighted in each school's Agreement Form that is due by September 26, 2011 for Term One participants and January 23, 2012 for Term Two participants and/or after making initial contact with your partner school/s. However, if your team needs more time to decide on the final global problem, you may have an extension to complete the Agreement Forms.

Challenge 20/20 is an annual NAIS initiative, and schools are encouraged to participate every year to continue their work on solving global problems. More information on next year's program will be available online. Also, we will provide you with updates throughout the year at http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020 so please check this website regularly. If you have any questions, you can download the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) at http://www.nais.org/global/index.cfm?ItemNumber=150365 or contact me directly at wheeler@nais.org.

NEXT STEPS:
1. Proceed by contacting your partner school/s and if you wish to work on a different global problem than the one assigned by NAIS, work that out within your partnership. You may communicate with each other by: email, phone, regular mail, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, listserves, and blogging. You will find more information on listserves and blogging below.

2. You have been assigned the Term for your partnership's participation based on your selection in the application form. Check with your partner school/s to make sure you're all still interested in working during that Term.

3. Fill out the Agreement Form signed by the Head of School (to be mailed or faxed back to NAIS by September 26, 2011, for Term One participants and January 23, 2012, for Term Two participants and/or after making initial contact with your partner school/s). You may download a copy of the form at: http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020. Send the form by e-mail: wheeler@nais.org
By mail: Ioana Simona Suciu Wheeler, Associate Director of Global Initiatives,
National Association of Independent Schools, 1620 L Street, NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20036-5695, USA, By fax: (202) 247-9694 or (202) 973-9790

Each signed agreement should also include the name of the global problem your partnership will be addressing. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (202) 973-9755 or by e-mail at wheeler@nais.org.

4. Read the details and guidelines for the Challenge 20/20 program online at http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020.

5. Read and advise your students to also read the book: High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them. This book is available at your local library or for purchase for $16.95 US dollars at your local bookstore or on our website at http://www.nais.org under Our Publications and NAIS Bookstore, or directly at http://www.nais.org/transact/ProductDetail.cfm?product_code=B91.

6. Begin your work on identifying local solutions to global problems as a team.

7. Term One participants submit any photographs and supplemental materials you would like us to have from November to January and Term Two participants make their submissions from April to May. You may send them by email to wheeler@nais.org or by mail at the address listed above. We will use some of these for promotional purposes, display and marketing only.

8. Term One participants submit the team's online report on your progress in January 2012 (reports due by February 3, 2012) while Term Two participants submit the report in April/May 2012 (reports due by May 4, 2012). This report will be available at http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020 as we get closer to that date and we will also send you reminders in advance. Once you submit your report, you can continue your work together for the remainder of the school year and we encourage you to do so.

PROGRAM CHANGES AND UPDATES:
1. Challenge 20/20 Listserve: The Teacher Leader and Contact Person at each participating school will be automatically added to the Challenge 20/20 listserve, which NAIS will use as a distribution list to send out updates and important information about Challenge 20/20. If you do not wish to be included in this listserve, simply send a message to wheeler@nais.org with the Subject Line: Unsubscribe from the Challenge 20/20 Listserve.

3. Blogs and Team Websites: We encourage you to use blogging as a way of communicating with your team and to create a Challenge 20/20 website for your team. You may use your own school's blogging system if you have one, or one that you create for the Challenge 20/20 partnership through the Challenge 20/20 Portal. To assist you with the process, NAIS has recently partnered with TakingITGlobal, an organization that offers a collaborative learning community which provides youth with access to global opportunities, cross-cultural connections and meaningful participation in decision-making. Through this partnership, we are thrilled to offer you the Challenge 20/20 Portal where you can register your schools individually and create classrooms, submit assignments, photographs, blogs and discussions, reports, journals, PowerPoint presentations, videos, etc. You can also create collaborations and invite your partner schools to join your collaboration so that your students and teachers can communicate with each other and share their research and findings to their assigned global problem. The Primary School of the team should create the collaboration and invite each partner school to join it. Please remember that all materials posted through this platform may be used by NAIS for marketing and display purposes, including video and pictures, and may be posted on the NAIS web site to serve as examples. We encourage you to create your classrooms and collaborations with a "private" setting but make certain things "public" so that others can use them as examples and view the type of work that can be accomplished through Challenge 20/20. Things that you can make public are photographs, reports, testimonials, journals, videos, etc. NAIS assumes that teachers are the copyright holders of their materials or they have individually secured permission for information posted on the Challenge 20/20 Portal. We have created a Users' Guide (Training Manual) on how to sign up for this website, so before you get started, please view the manual at http://www.nais.org/global/index.cfm?ItemNumber=154544. The landing page for the Challenge 20/20 Portal is http://challenge2020.tiged.org/. We also encourage using teleconferencing and videoconferencing as a way to connect with your partner schools.

The Challenge 20/20 homepage is a great resource that you can use throughout the program. We will post periodic updates and we encourage you to visit the website regularly at http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020.

Profile Your Challenge 20/20 Work on the NAIS Websites: For the first time this year, schools will have the opportunity to be profiled on the NAIS Challenge 20/20 website as well as the NAIS on iTunes U website. If you're interested, please contact Ioana Simona Suciu Wheeler at wheeler@nais.org for details. We will need a summary of your projects, photographs (with a statement that you have permissions from parents for NAIS to post them online), testimonials, any journals, PowerPoint presentations, videos, resources and other information you would like to share with us. Videos are also encouraged and if they are of good quality and conform to the format needed for NAIS on iTunes U, we can include them there as well. This will give your school lots of visibility and your work on Challenge 20/20 can be can serve as a model to other schools. Please make sure to collect photographs and supplemental materials throughout the year. To view a couple of examples of NAIS profiles visit http://www.nais.org/go/challenge20/20, under Past Projects.

IMPORTANT: If for any reason, a school on your team can no longer participate in Challenge 20/20 this year and wishes to withdraw from the program, please inform us as soon as possible so we can re-match your partner school/s. Contact me by sending an email to wheeler@nais.org.

Once again, congratulations! We wish for you a fruitful and productive experience through Challenge 20/20 that leads to the development of informed and capable global leaders and global citizens.

Best regards,Ioana Simona Suciu Wheeler, Associate Director of Global Initiatives,
wheeler@nais.org

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Welcome Back Turkish Partners

We heard back from our former partners and we hope to start communication soon.
Salman has been busy setting a meeting with Village Recycling to enhance our recycling program.  He has not started anything in the area of carbon footprint or energy audits at Casady because he and Les Pace from Oklahoma Green Schools have been trying to get the program started at Mercy School, a school Salman wants to mentor this year.

Salman is working on developing a stronger relationship with the environmental club.   He has been an active recycler in the month of September.  He has also been trying to recruit freshmen to volunteer in his green team during the first two YAC meeting which he has re-name "YOU-nite A Community."  The purpose of the YAC team is to help students find their passion to help our community and complete their 45-service requirement for graduation.  The sponsor of the environmental club is Mrs. Julieta Zesiger, chemistry teacher.  The YAC sponsor is Mrs. Clay, Spanish teacher and facilitator of the service requirement for graduation.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

NAIS Green team, Green Schools Training student reflection

Oklahoma Green School Training:

The Green School Training was a helpful session, but it was like reading a manual. I applaud the team who put it together, but next just make some hands on activities to give us experience that maybe teachers could past down to their students. A lot of information would have carried on better, if they presented it in a lively way, but overall a good job.

Les Pace:
When I think of Mr. Pace, I got 4 words, Environmental know it all. This man knows what he is doing, and he can explain to people who have never even heard of the word environmental. He devotes his time to his community, and communities abroad. Mr. Pace lives a 2 hour drive from my school, and he came all the way to explain how to audit a school. He is very helpful, knowledgeable, and he gives you ways to save money.

NAIS Challenge 20/10:  Millennium Goal: Sustainable Earth
This year working with the 20/20 project was phenomenal. I discovered another country's point of view on being green in a school environment. It's opens a lot of minds to opportunities, that we can share, and eventually achieve, not only improving our school, but a strong relationship. The Turkish school and Casady were very alike and exchanging ideas eventually led to successful projects. Our relations grew, cultures are mixed, and how we all view the world is changed. This is a great experience, and I look forward to another great year.



Friday, August 12, 2011

New Recycling Program for the City of the Village

Waste Connections Recycling Bank

Sherri Pidcock, 751-8661, Extension 255
-Program for Residential, but part of the program could be implemented at Casady School.
-Schools can benefit: Residents can donate their points to us or we can earn points ourselves.
-We earn points for what we recycle. We redeem points for products. Schools can receive donations from residents. We can also apply for green grants.
-They will get us carts. The cart has a scanner. It weights it and converts it into points. Glass can only be clear, green or brown. Everything can go together in the cart: Paper, plastic, cardboard, aluminum, plastic. The location of carts needs to be carefully considered. $4.55 per month per cart. 90 or 95 gallon.
Look at recycle bank http://www.recyclebank.com/ . See if it is what we want to pursuit. A rep will come from Waste Connections to train if we think it will be what we want. Sales Rep from Waste Connections: Brenda Merchant: 745-2942, 613-9996(cell)-brendam@wasteconnections.com

-The current recycling program, for paper, provided $40 last year.
-We need to decide if we keep what we are doing, change to the Village, or consider

A great recycling resource: e-mail: SPA - PEP RecycleRally Website: http://www.dreammachinerecyclerally.com/  . I received the following e-mail as part of my follow-up for Salman’s interest in recycling.

The Dream Machine Recycle Rally is scheduled to continue past the end of the 2011 school year and straight into 2012. With this in mind, you are invited to apply and recycle to your heart's content. In fact, we have schools with summer programs and community support that plan to keep up their recycling well into the summer months and into the next school year.

This is a multi-year program and we are excited to have you in the program now and next school year as well, and we are working on program details for the 2011-2012 school year which should be announced in the near future. . At that point, all information will be on our website and we encourage you to check back there for updates or email us again at that time for more details. What we can suggest is that once you have full school administration authorization to apply for the Recycle Rally, that you apply so that we can begin the review process as soon as possible. This can at times be a lengthy process if you are not already service by our project partner, Waste Management. In addition, although all details are not publicly available, you might keep in mind that our next major contest has a requirement that a school apply by August 1st in order to participate.

The great thing about this program is that the purpose of this initiative is to increase recycling overall and with that in mind, all #1 PET and aluminum cans should scan for points. We have about 175,000 UPC codes of these types in our system. Products of different companies are included in the program. While participating in the program, if something of these material types does not earn points, sometimes that is due to new and promotional products with unique UPC codes or perhaps something we have not yet included in our system. We have a support team that can elaborate on this for participants as well as add UPCs into the system.

We look forward to your participation in the upcoming 2011/2012 school year, we’re expanding our rewards and contests platforms so that more schools have even more rewards opportunities and chances to win contest prizes as well as a modified method of processing the recyclables which promises to be more convenient for Recycle Rally participants.

Again, we thank you for your interest and look forward to working with Casady School in the future.

Regards,
The Dream Machine Recycle Rally Team

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Application for NAIS Challenge 20/20 2011-2012

Dear Carmen Clay,

This is confirmation that we have received your application for the 2011-2012 Challenge 20/20. Thank you for your interest in the program!

We will process all applications and notify schools of their partnerships by mid-September 2011.

Although NAIS will make every effort, we cannot guarantee we will be able to partner every school/group. If we cannot partner your school/group this year, we will attempt to give you priority for pairing in the following year, and you may request to participate as a non-partnered school/group in preparation for next year.

Beginning with this year, schools can collaborate with their partners through the newly launched Challenge 20/20 Portal at http://challenge2020.tiged.org/ . More information is available on the website at http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020 under Collaborations.

If you have questions, please contact me at wheeler@nais.org or by phone at 202-973-9755.
To read more about the Challenge 20/20 program, visit
http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020.

All the best,

Ioana Simona Suciu Wheeler

Associate Director of Global Initiatives

National Association of Independent Schools

Phone: 202-973-9755; Fax: 202-247-9694

Email: wheeler@nais.org



Thursday, August 4, 2011

Second Green Schools Training, Casady School, August 5th, 8:30 a.m.

Pictures and report from training forthcoming from Salman.  Casady teachers and students who participated in trainings were Mrs. Linn, Mrs. Clay, Mrs. Zesiger, and Mr. White from the Middle Division.  Students who participated were: Salman, Zainab, Katie, and alumni Emma and Alexander.

We will be following the leadership provided by environmental club and green team.  We will focus on recycling as the service-learning project and energy audits as the green team project in collaboration, we hope with the school in Turkey again this year.

Application to Challenge 20/20 2011-2012  submitted on August 8th
School Casady School


Student Group a club composed of 9-12 grade students with collaborations with MD and LD students

Global Problems 1: Global warming

2: Massive step-up in the fight against poverty

3: Peacekeeping, conflict prevention, combating terrorism

4: Water deficits

5: International labor and migration rules



Date Submitted 8/11/2011

Finalized Yes

Saturday, July 23, 2011

First OKC Public Schools Teachers Green Schools Program Training

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Testimonials from former Casady YAC Chair and Environmental Club Leader, Class of 2005,"Hi Mrs. Clay,  Thanks again for inviting us to the Green Schools training! It was exactly what I needed - a concrete, step-by-step plan for the environmental/service-learning club that I have been developing over the past year. The ideas presented were applicable to just about any classroom, and provided proof that service-learning in the classroom can be productive for the teacher, students, and administration. I especially appreciated the variety of examples and resources, particularly grant opportunities, provided by the presenters. I'm eager to start a Green Team at my campus!  A quick question for you - what was the grant application website that you mentioned today?
Thank you! Emma. Emma Thadani, University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2009, 405-361-0593, ethadani@gmail.com"

Thank you Emma. It was amazing to share Oklahoma Green Schools with two of the YAC and Environmental Club leaders of the Class of 2005. I am glad that you and Alexander found the presentation inspiring and look forward to news of what you and your kids will be doing in the future.

Check from time to time http://casadynaischallenge2020.blogspot.com/. For updates on next year’s possible summer trip to Peru, check http://cyclonexploringpossibilities.blogspot.com/.


I am sending your reflection to Zainab, current YAC and Environmental Club leader who replied last night that she will be attending the August 5th training. I am also including in this e-mail the current leader of Challenge 20/20, Green Team Yes, Salman ’14. He is the person who can provide you the Casady NAIS Challenge 20/20 tool kit to borrow for your school. We do not have a complete tool kit, but it will help you get started. We already have one for the Middle School and I will get the one from the Metro Career Academy for Casady’s UD.

Grants: YSA Grants for Semester of Service and other service-learning related celebrations like Earth Day, Global Youth Service Day : http://www.ysa.org/grants. Do Something.org Grants: http://www.dosomething.org/grants; Pepsi Refresh Challenge Grants: http://www.refresheverything.com/. State Farm YAB grants http://www.statefarmyab.com/about/. If passionate, well prepared kids write the grant; you know because you used to evaluate grants at Camp Fire USA when you were part of the Teens in Action Youth Board, it is almost impossible to turn them down!!!!

SALMAN'S WORK IN 2010-2011-REFLECTION AND EVALUATION FORTHCOMING!
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A great recycling resource: e-mail: SPA - PEP  RecycleRally Website: http://www.dreammachinerecyclerally.com/ . I received the following e-mail as part of my follow-up for Salman’s interest in recycling

The Dream Machine Recycle Rally is scheduled to continue past the end of the 2011 school year and straight into 2012. With this in mind, you are invited to apply and recycle to your heart's content. In fact, we have schools with summer programs and community support that plan to keep up their recycling well into the summer months and into the next school year.

This is a multi-year program and we are excited to have you in the program now and next school year as well, and we are working on program details for the 2011-2012 school year which should be announced in the near future. . At that point, all information will be on our website and we encourage you to check back there for updates or email us again at that time for more details. What we can suggest is that once you have full school administration authorization to apply for the Recycle Rally, that you apply so that we can begin the review process as soon as possible. This can at times be a lengthy process if you are not already service by our project partner, Waste Management. In addition, although all details are not publicly available, you might keep in mind that our next major contest has a requirement that a school apply by August 1st in order to participate.

The great thing about this program is that the purpose of this initiative is to increase recycling overall and with that in mind, all #1 PET and aluminum cans should scan for points. We have about 175,000 UPC codes of these types in our system. Products of different companies are included in the program. While participating in the program, if something of these material types does not earn points, sometimes that is due to new and promotional products with unique UPC codes or perhaps something we have not yet included in our system. We have a support team that can elaborate on this for participants as well as add UPCs into the system.

We look forward to your participation in the upcoming 2011/2012 school year, we’re expanding our rewards and contests platforms so that more schools have even more rewards opportunities and chances to win contest prizes as well as a modified method of processing the recyclables which promises to be more convenient for Recycle Rally participants.

Again, we thank you for your interest and look forward to working with Casady School in the future.

Regards,

The Dream Machine Recycle Rally Team

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Summer Training Opportunities

Kansas Green Schools Conference: July 28-July 29.  (Three nights stay at hotel)  Contact Christina Stallings: christina.stallings@ag.ok.gov , 522-6158, 227-8858 for details.  Conference highly recommended for educators interested in greening schools

Thursday: June 28, 9:30-5:00:  Pre-Conference Workshop: Trek an New Route in Green Schools: How to start a Green team  $50. Full day of professional development with lunch included. k-12 faculty, educators, parents welcomed.

Friday: June 29: 7:30-5:00: $15 registration fee.  See details and online registration at http://kansasgreenschools.org/2011-conference-0
-------------------------------------------------

Next Green School Program Board Meeting: July 21.  Metro Career Academy teachers will attend.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Green School Program Training Dates: (4 hours.  Lunch and prizes by OG&E)

July 22: Oklahoma Public/Private School Teacher Training at John Marshall High School.  Contact Christina Stallings, trainer facilitator christina.stallings@ag.ok.gov , 522-6158, 227-8858  for details.  Lunch provided by OG&E

August 5th: Oklahoma Public/Private School Teacher trainng at TBA, Casady School, Gaylord Student Center. Lunch provided by OG&E There is also a training in Tulsa the same day for Tulsa teachers
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
10 top questions for Salman, First Green School Program Youth Intern

1. What questions should we have at a FAQ link of the website?
2. Green School Challenge costs $700 per year, is that worth it? How could students raise that amount on a yearly basis?  From the Challenge itself,...doable?
3. We will create a speakers bureau and promote it at the website...What topics will interest emerging youth green teams?
4. Should we have a link with factoids about what students are accomplishing?  Should we have contests?  Did you ever create your own website for NAIS Challenge 20/20 Green Team YES (NAISCH20/20GTY)
5. Check out http://www.dreammachinerecyclerally.com/. Please send feedback
6. Interested in manpowering a booth for OKGSP at A+ Conference September 17, 2011, if approved?
7. I am setting up a meeting with Sonny Wilkinson from Keep Oklahoma Beautiful for trees and recycling, interested in attending?  I will cc you e-mails.
8. Will you be able to help with SKYPE Monday the 27?
9. Do you need help?
10.  How are you doing?

Friday, June 3, 2011

Casady's Challenge 20/20 History

Casady's NAIS Challenge 20/20 http://www.nais.org/resources/index.cfm?ItemNumber=147262  was a roller coaster ride, worth the price of admission, of youth voice, choice, and process from its inception. Casady Upper Division students have concentrated in helping two millennium goals of the United Nations: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and insure environmental sustainability. As senior leaders graduate, emerging freshman leadership takes over the projects and direct the mission through innovative paths.

POVERTY AND HUNGER FOCUS

Our Challenge 20/20 exploration started when Andrew Griffin’07 was a freshman. His idea was to import children’s art from remote villages, sell it and use the proceeds to meet educational needs of underserved children around the world. NAIS paired Andrew with Bishop McAllister College in Uganda and a museum youth board in Ollantaytambo, Peru because we had teachers at Casady with direct connections to those countries. The relationship with the Ugandan school was short, but the high school’s Headmaster has visited Oklahoma City and the Casady campus several times. Our community has supported his school’s needs for several years. In July, 2011, Casady students visited Bishop McAllister College in June-July 2011 with a video-reflection service-learning project http://web.me.com/sonnyvarela/Site_3/Project_X.html.

Andrew’s search for an Oklahoma City partner culminated with World Neighbors (WN) http://www.wn.org/site/c.buITJ7NRKsLaG/b.6248395/k.BEF1/Home .htm. Andrew discovered that a relative of his was the founder of WN. Researching WN. Andrew found, WorldFest, WN's yearly fundraiser. WorldFest sells imported goods from villages with proceeds supporting projects in those villages. This made WN a perfect Challenge 20/20 project partner for Andrew. Andrew became a founding member of the WN Youth Board. In the two years that Andrew led the Board, the Youth Board raised $20,000. Casady students still participate in World Neighbors WorldFest activities.

Andrew found fertile ground for his vision of erradicating poverty and hunger with creative solutions in two caring students, Leann Farha’08 and Ankita Prasad’08. Lean took the leadership of the global hunger fighting component. Ankita led the local ending childhood hunger initiative.

Leann took the lead to end childhood hunger when she organized the first grassroots Walk the World OKC’05 benefiting the United Nations World Food Programme, School Feeding. She was a United Nations World Food Programme guest at the Walk the World 2005 debriefing in Rome, Italy. Upon her return from Italy, Leann led Walk the World OKC’2006-2008 raising $27,000. Leann’s efforts led to an increased number of walkers every year. She was also an active WN Youth Council member. Leann stated that four years with the project enabled her to overcome insecurities and transformed a shy girl, terrified of public speaking into a confident leader, an effective communicator, and organizer. In a brief reflection of her four years with WtW, Leann stated, “I received more than I gave fighting to eradicate childhood hunger.”

Our NAIS Challenge 20/20 relationship with the museum youth board in Peru started very simply with their bilingual exposure to the book High Noon, 20 global challenges and 20 years to solve them. The museum’s youth board sought collaboration with a local elementary school of Ollantaytambo, Peru. The Youth Board and Manco Inca Elementary School hosted a Walk the World,Ollantaytambo’06. The connection with the Youth Board ended when the sponsor left since he was the facilitator of the emerging Internet in Ollantaytambo, Peru.

Manco Inca Elementary School became our Global Service-Learning Education partner after the walk. In June 2008, the first group of Casady Service-learning students arrived in Ollantaytambo. World Leadership School was our travel service learning facilitator http://worldleadershipschool.com/  and our Challenge 20/20 Global Warming Group wrote a grant to Facing the Future, http://www.facingthefuture.org/, that empowered the group to take a digital camera and a printer for the elementary school to document their efforts on climate change and recycling. In June 2009, the second group from Casady School arrived in Ollantaytambo to continue making the dream of the Children of Ollantaytambo a reality. In total, fifteen Casady students and three faculty members traveled to Peru to participate in a combined service, language immersion, and homestay experience managed by World Leadership School and implementing a service project provided by the Peruvian non-profit, Ania, Land of Children, http://www.mundodeania.org/eng/index.html.  In collaboration with other independent schools such as Lakeside of Seattle (in its 8th year in Ollantaytambo) and Groton School of Boston, Casady students transformed a pile of rubble into an ecological playground –“LAND OF CHILDREN”- designed and maintained by the children of Manco Inca Elementary School. http://tiniollantaytambo.blogspot.com/2008/07/tierra-de-nios-lleg-ollantaytambo.html . The children with guidance from US teens have also developed a recycling program for their school and are now expanding the program to their homes and town. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tierra-de-Ni%C3%B1os-Ollantaytambo/358089556069  The teens from the United States have gained knowledge of the Quechua language, enhanced understanding of fair trade practices, and an appreciation of a slow pace of life that reverances nature.

In June 2009, Casady students presented their experience in Ollantaytambo at the Second International Service-Learning Conference in Teacher Education in Galway, Ireland. Casady students hope to return to Ollantaytambo in June, 2012 when they will promote the creation of a trilingual picture book of the Ollantaytambo, Land of Children experience in collaboration with the non-profit, What Kids Can Do, http://whatkidscando.org/, and In Our Village: http://inourvillage.org/. The faculty leader of the second Ollantaytambo trip, Kari Bornhoft, stated, “When asked to take a group of students to Peru, I had mixed emotions. I would have the chance to see one of the great wonders of the world (Machu Picchu), to experience another Latin culture, to spend time with a group of students in a way no other educator can in normal conditions… The two weeks I spent in Peru were exhausting. It was an incredible learning experience for both the students and faculty. We grew as a team and did equally as individuals. All of us had our highs and lows and as we were stretched found our capabilities mentally, physically, and emotionally.” The Casady Summer Service-Learning program remained dormant in 2010 and 2011. We hope to resume our work in the summer of 2012

Leann's Walk the World OKC continued in June 2009 when a group of freshmen boys led by Graham Bennett’12 and Richard Clements'12 took the leadership of the project and had 25 walkers around the Casady Lake and raised $2,000. In June 2010, 8th grader, Shiva Bhupathiraju'14 helped by YAC members Josh Ou'11 and Sarah Cox'10 facilitated the Walk the World 2010 around the State Capitol. The Walk had 20 walkers and raised $ 600 for the United Nations World Food Programme and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma Food-4-Kids Program. The walk also promoted ZUMBA as an alternative way to be active and have fun. On May 29, 2011, a freshmen member of YAC, Jashmine Shoureh'14 and 8th grader, Catherine Claire Christie'15 facilitated Walk the World OKC2011 in collaboration with the Food Bank,the United Nations Association of Greater Oklahoma, the Respect Diversity Foundation and the Middle Division International Club. Before the walk, Jasmine facilitated YAC's first Global Youth Service Day at the Food Bank where she promoted the walk. Jasmine motivated people to learn about the UN World Food Programme and child feeding programs at the Food Bank through video games. Catherine Claire and Jessica Greene, 8th grade International Club Presidents promoted the walk in the middle School and raised $100 for WfP and the Food Bank through baked good sales. 50 people participated in the Walk which took place on Memorial Weekend around the Casady Lake. $ 900 were raised as of June 19, 2001 with proceeds from restaurants and Casady's International Club pending to be tabulated.

The Challenge 20/20 local initiative to erradicate poverty and hunger was headed by Ankita Prasad’08, who during her freshman year wore a “can costume” to motivate lower division students to donate for our canned food drive. The costume was a legacy from a service-learning project headed by Dana Rowland'04. As Ankita learned about related global issues of poverty and the problems with inconsistent communication with our partners international schools, she realized that perhaps the best focus was the creation of global issues youth councils following the guidelines for Global Issues Networks described in the book High Noon, 20 global problems and 20 years to solve them. She promoted the idea with our partners in Uganda and Peru without success.

Ankita attended the NAIS Challenge 20/20 leaders’ conference in Boston and became a member of the Students against Hunger Youth Board at the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and of the World Neighbors Youth Board. She was also a “priceless” summer intern at World Neighbors and she became the preferred youth advisor when organizations explored youth board possibilities for their institutions. As the leader of Challenge 20/20 for local solutions, the canned food drive became the Casady Cans Do Project. Casady Cans Do quadrupled our whole school contribution to the Food Bank during Ankita’s tenure. She added learning components such as categorization games and canned sculpture competitions. She promoted “Food Bank Lunches” to raise awareness of what meals the Food Bank provide from donations. She also inspired ceramics classes to make bowls for silent auction during the Food Bank lunch as a reminder of the kids whose bowls would be empty in the evening. Proceeds of the Empty Bowls Silent Auction went to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma Food-4-Kids Program. She was also part of Walk the World, but her goal was to seek funding and awareness of the hunger problem in Oklahoma City.

Ankita presented Casady's NAIS Challenge 20/20 at the First International Service-Learning Conference in Teacher Education in Brussels in collaboration with Phillips Andover Academy http://www.andover.edu/Pages/default.aspx and developed an informal NAIS Challenge 20/20 Global Warming partnership with one of the conference participants, a history teacher, from the American School in Brussels. http://www.brus-ehs.eu.dodea.edu/ She also presented the NAIS Challenge 20/20 opportunity at the Department of Environmental Quality-Earth Day 2008 Celebration at the Oklahoma City Zoo, which started a collaboration between Casady School and the Oklahoma Green Schools. Ankita stated, “Service Learning is a great way for Casady students to give back to their community. I believe that participating in service learning not only benefits our community but also broadens student’s outlook on life. Service Learning has given me so many opportunities to change my school, my community and finally my world. Projects like Challenge 20/20 help Casady students become connected to schools across the world and discuss local problems in a global setting. The Casady Cans Do project has raised awareness and collected funds to help eradicate hunger in Oklahoma. No matter what your passion is, you can find a service learning project that is right for you.”

Eradicating poverty locally became the focus of the Casady Student Council and YAC in 2009-2011. STUCO in collaboration with YAC led the Casady Cans Do 2010 competitions. In 2011, we did not beat the record year established by Ankita, but we raised over 8,0000 pounds in cans and provided a $1,300 check to the Food Bank. STUCO also led the fundraising efforts for Habitat for Humanity. YAC member, Cecil Ray, facilitated the construction of the first house Casady students partially build. STUCO in collaboration with YAC and winter sports athletes and coaches framed "our habitat house" on MLK day. STUCO presented a check to the CEO of Habitat for close to $3,000 raised in various fundraising activities.

GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE FOCUS

During Ankita’s senior year, members of the Class of 2011 shifted the focus of the Casady Challenge 20/20 project to awareness of the human print in global warming and climate change. Rebecca Roach’11 and Josh Ou’11 became the Challenge 20/20 leaders at Casady School. They read High Noon, watched The Inconvenient Truth, contacted Sierra Club representatives and Casady faculty to raise awareness and help promote recycling in our school. Josh and Rebecca wrote and were awarded a Facing the Future grant to provide cameras to document climate change in OKC and Peru. Our international discussion collaborators in the area of Global Warming/Climate Change challenge were the school in Brussels which Ankita brought on board after her NAIS Challenge 20/20 at Casady Presentation; Mount Saint Mary School of Pennsylvania, and the Cloud Forest School in Costa Rica. These efforts were not very successful, yet Josh created a website and we learned how to have SKYPE teleconferences with Costa Rican students.

Rebecca and Josh focused on recyling and awareness and reduction of carbon footprint and changing usage of plastic water bottles to aluminum. One of the adult sponsors of this project was also interested in awareness of ecological footprint and energy conservation. Thanks to an "informal partnership" with the Oklahoma Green Schools Pilot Program, Josh obtained recycling bins to promote recycling of cans and plastic and he developed a stronger collaboration with the Casady Environmental Club and the Casady administrative efforts in turning our school greener. Josh stated, "When I first joined the Challenge 20/20 group my freshmen year, I was completely oblivious that I would become the president of this group my junior year. During the early stages, we would have only dreamt of having a cans and plastic recycling on a regular bases; we are also in the process of constructing two new LEED buildings on our campus.”

Our Challenge 20/20 partners in 2009-2010 were a school in China and a school in New York. The Casady group, lead by Josh Ou'11 tried to communicate with the school in China with no response. We managed to communicate with the school in New York a couple of times. They were active in promoting awareness of carbon footprint in younger students and we were told that they created a manual for that purpose. We asked them to send the information to be shared with our MD and LD, but the exchanged did not happen. Internally, the NAIS Challenge 20/20 work continued its focus on Global Warming, mostly through recycling weekly and selling alluminun water bottles. Following the leadership of the school in New York, Casady's Challenge 20/20 became more proactive at mentoring the Middle Division Environmental Club. On Earth Day, we planted 10 trees in collaboration with the Middle Division. The Green Schools Committee helped us get the trees. They also linked us to an architectural firm that enhanced our understanding of LEED constructions, since our school was building the first LEED certified building on campus. The Challenge 20/20 team promoted the usage of alluminum water bottles to replace the plastic that is polluting our oceans due to our love for convenience. The Challenge 20/20 group enhanced its awareness of the problem, but its effort to make it public were limited by their busy academic, artistic, and sports schedule.

Casady NAIS Challenge 20/20 leaders, as a result of being part of the pilot green school program unoficially, received recycling containers to increase our Environmental Club recycling program from paper only to plastic and cans. During Earth Day 2010, Challenge 20/20 brought alternative energy cars on campus. Upper, Middle, and Lower Division students were introduced to electric cars. Josh, the leader of Challenge 20/20 received an award in the form of funding to attend the Six Billion Paths to Peace Retreat in San Francisco based on his work from freshmen to junior year as a Challenge 20/20 YAC member and leader. http://web.mac.com/casadycrier/iWeb/Challenge%202020%20Website/Home/Home.html  Josh continued to be part of the Environmental Club in 2010-2011. He designed a very attractive t-shirt for the environmental club 2010-2011.  He also provided guidance to the NAIS Challenge 20/20 in 2010-2011 leader, Salman Hamid'14

In the school year 2010-2011 NAIS Challenge 20/20 became a path to peace for a freshman student. Salman, a student who came from the only Oklahoma Green School in 2010, Deer Creek, had the goal of motivating other schools in our city and globally to LIVE GREEN. He developed a partnerhip and applied to be a member of the Oklahoma Green Schools Pilot Program. http://www.okgreenschools.org/ /
NAIS Challenge 20/20 provided a school in Turkey as a partner during the school year 2010-2011. The School in Turkey changed from reforestation to global warming and became Casady's NAIS Challenge 20/20 partner school. The teams communicated twice in 2010 and twice in 2011 via SKYPE. The sponsor in Turkey changed due to maternity leave of absence. Salman offered Mr. Les Pace, energy expert from Oklahoma Green Schools and the Green School website, as resources for the Turkey program.

Salman read parts of the book, High Noon, and then concentrated in learning about the Green Schools Oklahoma program and helping them find a kids' friendly carbon footprint online calculator. He realized he had been led at Deer Creek, but he did not know enough to lead others with the tools provided by the Green Schools Pilot program. During MLK Day, he organized a "train the trainer" workshop, where interested Casady students had the opportunity to help the Oklahoma Green Schoool decide what kids and teacher friendly carbon footprint survey they were going to promote in their website. Experts from the Oklahoma Green Schools use this time with possible members of the Casady Green Team YES to demonstrate how to use energy audit tools also.

Salman helped recruit Mercy School as a pilot Green School and did a follow-up with Keystone Adventure School, an elementary school, which due to flooding, did not finish its certification as a green school last year.

Salman in collaboration with Mr. Les Pace also helped a Casady 7th grader do an energy audit of the 7th grade rooms as her project for the Casady MD science fair. Katie's energy audit project won first place in the science competition regionals.

April, 5-9, 2011, Salman attended the National Service-Learning Conference in Atlanta, where he had a short presentation of his path to peace, Greening Oklahoma, one school and one person at a time to the Shinnyo-en fellows and participants interested in the stories of how 3 schools around the USA (Casady-OKC, Blake School-Minneapolis, and White Plains-New York) were Actualizing the Six Billion Paths to Peace Initiative of the Shinnyo-en Foundation http://www.sef.org/ .

Upon Salman's return to Oklahoma City, Shiva joined the Casady Green Team and helped Salman work at the Planet Nichols Hills Earth Day Birthday Celebration. Salman and Shiva had a booth where they demonstrated the Green Schools Tool Kit and motivated people to take an online carbon footprint survey. They conducted an energy audit of our LEED certified math building and started a turn off lights and computers campaign in the Upper Division at the end of each school day.

Shiva and Mrs. Clay participated in the Environmental Club, Adopt a Street Clean-up to celebrate Earth Day. The clean-up was part of a city initiative sponsored by OKC Beautiful http://okcbeautiful.com/index.php  called Litter Blitz. As the article http://newsok.com/litter-blitz-focuses-on-cigarette-butts-in-oklahoma-city/article/3560439  states, Casady students also found out that the majority of the litter comes from cigarrette buds. Salman had intentions of asking Environmental Club students to take the carbon footprint survey before or after the clean-up, but due to illness, he was unable to attend.

Mrs. Clay requested interested Environmental Club members take the ecological footprint survey available at the the Green School website. The few people who took the ecological footprint realized that it took at least 5 earths to allow us to live the way we live now.

In the middle of June,Salman started an internship for the Oklahoma Green Schools Program at the Department of Environmental Quality to learn more about recycling and provide the youth perspective to the Oklahoma Green Schools website.

The School in Turkey welcomes Salman and possible NAIS Green Team YES members as partners in the school year 2011-2012.  This is the first year we are requesting to be re-assigned to a school.  We look forward to the possibilities under the leadership of passionate environmentalist, Salman Hamid'14.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Salman has finals next week. I am sending this information to him to respond with his schedule. Carmen

From: Clay, Carmen
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 6:03 PM
To: salmanhamid96@hotmail.com
Cc: Carmen Clay
Subject: FW: Apology for Thursday Skype



From: MURAD SERTAÇ ERDEN [mailto:serden@odtugvo.k12.tr]
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 7:33 AM
To: Clay, Carmen
Subject: YNT: Apology for Thursday Skype

Last week I couldn't reply your e-mail, because we were very busy and had worked on our Science Day Activities. Sorry for that. Tomorrow (19th May) our school will not be open. It's 19th May Youth and Sport Festival. So there will be some activities and ceremony in the morning. We can talk about the future plans and our pair work, if possible, next week (26th May) at about 3:15 pm or 3:30 pm (for our time zone). Our school year will end at 16th June. See you next week.

Sertaç ERDEN
________________________________________
Kimden: Clay, Carmen [clayc@casady.org]
Gönderildi: 13 Mayıs 2011 Cuma 14:09
Kime: Salman Hamid; MURAD SERTAÇ ERDEN; SEÇİL NAZLIER
Konu: RE: Apology for Thursday Skype
I told Salman that I would not be able to attend because I had an unexpected training for a project for the Spanish classes. I am sorry we did not communicate. I hope we will be able to do so next week.

I need to start writing the report for NAIS. Please send me via e-mail your reflection of your year. When does the school year end in Turkey?

Salman: I need yours too. Please work on your reflection this weekend and send me an update of hours to certify for your transcript. I also want you to see the intergenerational grant below:
http://gu.org/OURWORK/Programs/YouthJumpstartGrants.aspx

________________________________________
From: Salman Hamid [mailto:salmanhamid96@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thu 5/12/2011 11:21 PM
To: Murad Sertaç ERDEN; snazlier@odtugvo.k12.tr
Cc: Clay, Carmen
Subject: Apology for Thursday Skype
I understand that we are continuing our Skype conversations every Thursday until the end of the school year, which for me is May 27. I apologize for not showing this morning, 7 am was sort of early for me, and since exams are coming up, i have been staying up some late nights studying. I overslept, and tried to send an email to you apologizing, but I just received an email saying that the apology email I sent earlier failed in reaching you. Again I am sorry, and hope to see you next Thursday.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Take the Zero Foot Print Challenge




Project Learning Tree GreenSchools http://www.plt.org/


Nat'l Wildlife Federation EcoSchools http://www.nwf.org/en/Global-Warming/School-Solutions/Eco-Schools-USA.aspx (Eco Schools is International! NWF is the US host)

Earth Day Network http://www.earthday.org/education

Green Schools Initiative http://www.greenschools.ne/ t

Green Schools National Network http://www.greenschoolsnationalconference.org/ (primary focus)

USGBC http://www.greenbuildings.org/


Statistics on how unhealthy our schools are: http://www.projectgreenschools.org/http://www.usgreenschools.org/.  The Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) and the EPA have great sites that have statistics, reports, ideas for schools, etc.

Christina Stallings Roberson, Education/Project Learning Tree Coordinator, Oklahoma Forestry Services, (405) 522-6158 christina.stallings@oda.state.ok.us


GENERAL GREEN SCHOOL RESOURCES

· Project Learning Tree Green Schools Program: www.plt.org
· U.S.G.B.C. Green Schools 101: http://www.buildgreenschools.org/gs101/
· Green Schools Alliance: http://www.greenschoolsalliance.org/
· U.S. Green Schools Foundation: http://www.usgreenschools.org/
· Global Green U.S.A. Green Schools Initiative (with Jake Gyllenhaal): http://www.globalgreen.org/greenurbanism/schools/
· AFT Road Map to Green & Sustainable Schools: http://www.aft.org/topics/building-conditions/downloads/BMMB_GREENGUIDE.pdf
· E-Chalk Green Calculator: http://www.echalknyc.com/www/echalknyc/site/hosting/greencalc.html
· Healthy Schools Campaign: http://www.healthyschoolscampaign.org/
· Education Reporting: http://www.educationreporting.com/greened.php
· Green Schools Initiative 7 Steps to Greening Your School: http://www.greenschools.net/article.php?id=70
· National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Eco-Schools: http://www.nwf.org/ecoschools/


ENERGY RESOURCES

· U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network: The New Guide to Operating and Maintaining EnergySmart Schools: http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/energysmartschools/ess_o-and-m-guide.pdf
· Alliance to Save Energy, Green Schools - Using Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Schools (Students Leading the Way): http://www.ase.org/section/program/greenschl
· U.S. EPA Energy Star™ for Schools (Top performing ENERGY STAR labeled schools cost forty cents per square foot less to operate than the average performers. Energy Star recognition is available – Recognition Section of this site.) http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=k12_schools.bus_schoolsk12
· ASHRAE Advanced Energy Guide for K-12 Schools: http://aedg.ashrae.org/aedgagreement.php?aedg=1&source=4febd1bc46e8be9026dcfccef23707badu
· U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Building, Technology, State and Community Programs, How to Guide: Maximize Energy Savings in School Buildings: http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/state_energy_program/pdfs/a1_schools.pdf


ENERGY EDUCATION

· USEPA EnergyStar for Kids: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=kids.kids_index
· EnergyNet, Energy Efficiency Curriculum and Resource Materials for Schools:
http://www.energynet.net/eninfo/national_invitation.html
· U.S. Dept. of Energy—Get Smart about Energy: http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/education/lessonplans/
· Project Learning Tree (PLT) “Energy & Society” http://www.plt.org/ (To order, contact state PLT coordinator, 405-522-6158.)
· Energy Explained, an energy website by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is full of graphs, data, and scientific information that can add depth to high school curricula in Science, Math, or Social Studies. www.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained
· OG&E—“Living Wise” Program: http://www.oge.com/residential-customers/save-energy-and-money/EnergyEfficiency/Pages/LivingWiseKits.aspx / or call 405.553.3597.
· OG&E Online Kids Korner: http://www.oge.com/community/Pages/KidsKorner.aspx.
· National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Online Climate Classroom (Lesson Plans / Kids / Teens)
http://www.climateclassroom.org/
· Teaching About Climate Change – Cool Schools Tackle Global Warming, Green Teacher:
· http://www.greenteacher.com/#Green%20Teacher%20Books (Sample lessons online here: http://oklahoma.sierraclub.org/greenteacher/index.htm#Climate)
· Oklahoma Windpower Initiative (OWPI) curriculum guide: http://www.seic.okstate.edu/owpi/EducOutreach/ForTeachers.htm


WATER RESOURCES

· American Water Works Assn. (AWWA) Water Wiser Water Audit Software (free download):
http://www.awwa.org/Resources/WaterLossControl.cfm?ItemNumber=48511&navItemNumber=48158
· U.S. EPA Region 10, Water Conservation Tips for Schools: http://www.epa.gov/region01/eco/drinkwater/water_conservation_schools.html
· National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities Water Conservation Resources: http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/water.cfm
· “Every Drop Counts!” Water Conservation Checklist for Schools: http://www.p2pays.org/ref/23/22009.pdf
· WaterWiser: the Water Efficiency Clearinghouse- Calculate water leak amounts: http://www.awwa.org/awwa/waterwiser/dripcalc.cfm
· EPA Low Impact Development (solutions for storm water run-off include green roofs, rain gardens and rainwater catchment): http://www.epa.gov/nps/lid/ (9-minute online video: http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/lid/video.html)


WATER EDUCATION

· OK Project WET (curriculum correlated to OK PASS skills: http://www.okcc.state.ok.us/ED/ED_projectwet.htm
· Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) OK Water Data: http://www.owrb.ok.gov/
· (includes Virtual Wetlands Tour, Interactive Maps, OK Water Atlas, OK Water Tour, OK Water Facts, and more)
· OK Water Watch lake monitoring (temporarily inactive, but some resources are available here: http://www.owrb.ok.gov/quality/monitoring/watch/wwatch.php)
· OK Blue Thumb stream monitoring program/education & training for students & teachers: http://bluethumbok.com/
· EPA Teaching Resources for Water: http://www.epa.gov/teachers/water.htm
· EPA Groundwater Primer: http://www.purdue.edu/dp/envirosoft/groundwater/src/ground.htm
· Water Environmental Federation (WEF) K-12 Curriculum: http://www.wef.org/AboutWater/ForEducators/CurriculumMaterials/
· Green Teacher lessons: http://oklahoma.sierraclub.org/greenteacher/index.htm#Water


WASTE & RECYCLING

· U.S. EPA WasteWise Program - Tools to Reduce Waste in Schools: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/education/pdfs/toolkit/tools.pdf
· School Recycling Implementation Plan: http://www.recycleok.org/educational-resources.php Find other relevant information here in the Oklahoma Recycling Association (OKRA) School Resources Section
· Illinois Greening Schools Waste Reduction: http://www.greeningschools.org/resources/view_cat_teacher.cfm?id=13
· How to Start and Sustain A School or Business Recycling Program: http://www.recycleok.org/pdf/Start-and-Sustain-Recycling-Program.pdf
· Cornell Waste Management Institute: http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/composting.htm
· Connecticut School Composting Manual: http://www.ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/compost/compost_pdf/schmanual.pdf

PURCHASING
· The EPA’s green procurement site is designed to assist procurement officials in smart purchasing decisions. Take advantage of online training to understand the full range of purchasing opportunities: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=bulk_purchasing. bus_purchasing_key_benefits#online; Review case studies and the key benefits of purchasing ENERGY STAR-qualified products: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm ?c=bulk_purchasing.bus_purchasing_key_benefits#case_studies
· U.S. General Services Administration, Environmental Products and Services Guide: http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/home
· Green Seal, Product Recommendations: http://www.greenseal.org/
· U.S. EPA, Environmentally Preferable Purchasing: http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp/
· Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board (MN), Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Guide: http://www.swmcb.org/
· Buy Recycled Business Alliance, Growing a Buy Recycled Purchasing Program: A Manager’s Guide: http://www.greenerbuildings.com/files/document/CustomO16C45F54320.pdf



FOOD SERVICE
· DEQ “Food for Thought-Best Management Practices for Food Handling Facilities”: http://www.deq.state.ok.us/pubs/CSD/food4thought.pdf
· Inform Inc., Waste at Work: Prevention Strategies for the Bottom Line, Food Services
http://www.informinc.org/wasteatwork.php
· P2RX, Waste Reduction Resource Center, Food Service – P2 Opportunities
http://wrrc.p2pays.org/p2rx/subsection.asp?hub=448&subsec=4&nav=4
· Inform Inc., Getting an “A” for Lunch: Smart Strategies in Reducing Waste in Campus Dining: http://www.informinc.org/getatlunch.php
· Zero Waste Lunchroom (California): http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/schools/wastereduce/Food/ZeroWaste.htm
· Oklahoma Farm to School Program (healthy locally grown food for schools): http://www.okfarmtoschool.com/
· Made in Oklahoma Products: http://www.madeinoklahoma.net/
· Oklahoma Food Cooperative (local producers): http://www.oklahomafood.coop
· Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture Buy Fresh, Buy Local Campaign: http://www.kerrcenter.com/buy-fresh.htm
· Healthy Tools to Help All School Lunch Programs: www.thelunchbox.org


WASTE & RECYCLING EDUCATION

· Solid Waste Management Resource Trunks are now available for loan to K-12 educators Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service. For description of contents and application for loan, go here: http://agecon.okstate.edu/waste/files/TrunkApplicationForm.pdf
· EPA Teacher Resources Page: http://www.epa.gov/teachers/waste.htm and Kids Site for Garbage & Recycling: http://www.epa.gov/kids/garbage.htm
· Project Learning Tree (PLT) Municipal Solid Waste module available by contacting state PLT coordinator at 405-522-6158.
· The Greens Activity Guide for Ages 9-12: http://meetthegreens.pbskids.org/features/
· OKRA Recycling Websites for Kids/Teens: http://www.recycleok.org/pdf/Recycling-Websites-for-Kids.pdf
· Ask.Com recycling page: http://www.ask.com/questions-about/Recycling-Process
· Cornell University Teacher Page: http://compost.css.cornell.edu/resources.html
· Cornell Solid Waste Education Activities for grades 9-12: http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/TrashGoesToSchool/Activities9-12.html
· Worms Eat Our Garbage (Classroom activities for grades 3-8/$22.95): http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/
· Recycling lesson plans online: http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Recycling/ or http://www.theteachersguide.com/Recyclinglessonplans.htm\
OK DEQ brochures:
· Worm Composting: http://www.deq.state.ok.us/factsheets/local/worms.pdf
· How to Build Compost Bins (several different plans provided): http://www.deq.state.ok.us/pubs/lpd/compostbins.pdf
· Make Every Day A Waste-Free Lunch Day: http://www.deq.state.ok.us/pubs/lpd/wstfrlnch.pdf
· How to Make A Locker Clean-Out an Environmental Event: http://www.deq.state.ok.us/factsheets/general/lockercl.pdf
· List of Solid Waste Resources for Schools: http://www.recycleok.org/pdf/SchoolSWResources2008.pdf
America Recycles Day printable packet: http://www.deq.state.ok.us/pubs/lpd/ard.pdf





ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
INDOOR AIR QUALITY
· U.S. EPA, Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Action Kit (free) / Order here: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/actionkit.html (Kits will be provided by the OK Green Schools Committee for 2009-2010 Pilot Program participants.)
· Healthy Schools Network, Guides and Materials: http://www.healthyschools.org/
· Healthy Schools Campaign Clean Green Schools: http://www.healthyschoolscampaign.org/programs/gcs/guide2/
· Cleaning for Healthy Schools Toolkit: http://www.cleaningforhealthyschools.org (Green Cleaning starter kit provided by OK Green Schools Committee for 2009-2010 Pilot Program participants.)
· INFORM Cleaning for Healthy Schools Toolkit: http://www.informinc.org/project_cleaning_health.php
· Healthy Schools Kids Page & Green Squad Poster: http://www.healthyschools.org/kids_page.html

LABORATORY WASTE
· Battelle Seattle Research Center, Laboratory Waste Minimization and Pollution Prevention checklist: http://www.p2pays.org/ref/01/text/00779/app-a.htm
· Council of State Science Supervisors, Science Education Safety checklists:
http://www.csss-science.org/safety.shtml
· Safe Labs that Don’t Pollute (a variety of resources for parents, teachers, and students): http://www.govlink.org/hazwaste/schoolyouth/index.cfm

MERCURY USE
U.S. EPA Mercury in the Environment: EPA's Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign addresses mercury and other unnecessarily hazardous chemicals in schools by proactively cleaning these chemicals out of schools, and going a step further to implement mechanisms to prevent their reappearance in schools.
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/accomp/news/mercury.htm
· EPA Mercury in Schools Case Studies describe common sources of mercury that were found present in local schools, and describes actions that were taken to reduce accidental exposures to mercury and to promote proper disposal of mercury-containing materials:
http://www.epa.gov/mercury/casestudies.htm
· “Mercury: An Educator’s Toolkit” is a two-disc DVD and CD package that contains a variety of activities, educational videos, and other information designed to enhance students’ understanding of mercury and its potential health hazards. http://www.epa.gov/region7/mercury/educator_toolkit.htm
· EPA Healthy School Environment Mercury Resources (lots of resources are listed here): http://cfpub.epa.gov/schools/top_sub.cfm?t_id=41&s_id=30

MOLD
· U.S. EPA, Mold Prevention in Schools: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/molds/prevention.html
· Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings: http://www.epa.gov/mold/publications.html


SCHOOL SITE

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION & RENOVATION
· USGBC Green Schools: www.buildgreenschools.org
· Collaborative for High Performance Schools (new construction), Best Practices Manual:
http://www.chps.net/manual/documents/Criteria/CA_CHPS_Criteria_III_2009.pdf
· National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities – High Performance Building Resource Lists: http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/high_performance.cfm
· Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, special online "classroom" about High-Performance School Buildings: http://www.buildingmedia.com/sbic/
· Alliance to Save Energy, Sustainable School Construction: http://www.ase.org/greenschools/newconstruction2.htm#what
· Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Schools Going Solar: http://irecusa.org/index.php?id=36

GROUNDSKEEPING
· Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ODAFF)- OK Forestry Services Division: http://www.forestry.ok.gov
· U.S. EPA, A Sourcebook on Natural Landscaping for Public Officials:
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/greenacres/toolkit/index.html
DEQ Edible School Garden Planning Guide: http://www.deq.state.ok.us/mainlinks/ediblegardens.htm
· EPA Low Impact Development: http://www.EPA.gov/nps/lid/ (stormwater projects such as raingardens, rain barrels, vegetated rooftop, permeable pavement)
· Greening School Grounds - Creating Habitats for Learning (step-by-step instructions for schoolyard projects such as tree nurseries, composting, native plants, etc.) Green Teacher:
http://www.greenteacher.com/#Green%20Teacher%20Books
· School Gardens in Los Angeles County, California (great photos): http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/files/54666.pdf

INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM)
· The IPM Institute of North America, IPM for School Landscapes and Grounds
http://www.ipminstitute.org/school_grounds.htm
· U.S. EPA Region V, Pollution Prevention Education Toolbox, Pesticide Reduction
http://www.epa.gov/reg5rcra/wptdiv/p2pages/pestici.pdf
· OSU Cooperative Extension IPM: http://entoplp.okstate.edu/ipm/

TRANSPORTATION

Air Quality Information
· OK Dept. of Environmental Quality: http://www.deq.state.ok.us/aqdnew/index.htm
· American Lung Association of Oklahoma: www.lungusa.org/oklahoma/
· Association of Central OK Governments (ACOG) Clean Cities Partnership: http://www.okcleancities.com/
· Indian Nation Council of Governments (INCOG) Clean Cities Partnership: http://www.tulsacleancities.com/

Air Quality Educational Resources
· OK DEQ Resources: http://www.deq.state.ok.us/aqdnew/education/education.htm
· EPA: http://www.epa.gov/smartway/index.htm
· Cool School Challenge (Puget Sound): www.coolschoolchallenge.org
This education program engages students and teachers in practical strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Through changes in transportation behaviors as well as increased recycling and other conservation actions, participants learn how simple actions can create a climate of change.
· Air Now: airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=aqikids_new.main This site provides children with information and activities related to air quality. U.S. EPA, NOAA, NPS, tribal, state, and local agencies developed the AIR Now Web site to provide the public with easy access to national air quality information (AQI). Includes Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Lawton
· Air & Waste Management Association Curriculum: http://www.awma.org/enviro_edu/resources1/index.html
Anti-idling
· US EPA: Sample Idling Policy: www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/idling_policy.htm
Sample plans, letters to parents, pledges, policies, success stories
· US EPA: Clean School Bus: www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/idle_fuel_calc.htm
Use EPA online calculator to calculate the amount of fuel and money your school/district could save by reducing the amount of time school buses idle.
· Airwatch Northwest: www.airwatchnorthwest.org/anti-idling.htm Idling Reduction Toolkit: airwatchnorthwest.org/wa/NO_IDLE/Measure_Idling.html#top
Measuring Idling in school zones:
airwatchnorthwest.org/wa/NO_IDLE/PDFs/Idlingmeasurement_form.pdf
Vehicle Idle Measurement Form

Bicycling and Walking
· Feet First: www.feetfirst.info/
· International Walk to School Web site: www.iwalktoschool.org/index.htm
· Walking audits: www.walkable.org/download/walking_audits.pdf
· Walking School Bus Program: www.walktoschool.org/
· King County LUTAQH: A walkable community equals a healthier community: your.kingcounty.gov/exec/news/2006/pdf/lutaqhupdated.pdf

Bicycle Safety Information
· Bicycle Groups in Oklahoma: http://www.oklahomabicyclesociety.com/clublst.htm
· Bike Safety for Kids: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/pedbimot/bike/KidsandBikeSafetyWeb/
· Bikeability Checklist: http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/library/details.cfm?id=3
· Bikesafe (Resources & Tools): http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/bikesafe/

Buses
· Diesel School Bus Retrofit Program: http://www.deq.state.ok.us/aqdnew/cleandiesel/index.html

Calculators of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Efficiency
· EPA: Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator: epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html
· EPA: Green Vehicle Guide: http://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/
· Compare the fuel economy of different vehicles between classes of vehicles.
fueleconomy.gov/ Use an online calculator to calculate your emissions (CO2 in tons, etc.) www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/savemoney.shtml Compare the savings in fuel costs alone from different vehicle choices
· U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Fleet & Automotive: http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentType=GSA_OVERVIEW&contentId=28083

Carpooling and ride-matching information
· Rideshare Online: www.rideshareonline.com/
· University of Washington, Evans School of Public Affairs Report: Transportation Demand Strategies for Schools: depts.washington.edu/trac/bulkdisk/pdf/685.1.pdf


SCHOOL SITE EDUCATION

· ODAFF Forestry Kids Page: http://www.forestry.ok.gov/for-kids
· ODAFF Natural Resources & Education: http://www.forestry.ok.gov/natural-resource-environmental-education
· Green Teacher: Greening School Grounds-Creating Habitats for Learning:
http://www.greenteacher.com/#Green%20Teacher%20Books
· U.S. Green Building Council Build Green Schools site: http://www.buildgreenschools.org/ and LEED for Schools: http://www.buildgreenschools.org/leed/
· Green Teacher sample lessons:
http://oklahoma.sierraclub.org/greenteacher/index.htm#Transportation

Sunday, May 1, 2011

National PLT Invitates Salman and Mrs. Clay to Youth Board and PLT Coordinators Conference

Please welcome Caroline Amport, the new Executive Director for NH Project Learning Tree. Caroline can be reached at 603-226-0160 or caroline@nhplt.org.

2011 PLT Coordinators’ Conference Update
You can also register on-site at the hotel in Montgomery!
Hotel: Contact La Torretta Resort directly to make your hotel reservations. To receive the negotiated room rate, call 1-877-286-9590 and identify yourself as part of American Forest Foundation – Project Learning
Tree group.

New PLT Websitekcooper@forestfoundation.org if you see errors

2011 GreenWorks! GrantsGreenWorks! We are happy to announce that in 2011, GreenWorks! funding is back! A new grant proposal will be posted to the website in early May, featuring maximum grant awards of $1,000 and a deadline of September 30, 2011. Funds will be distributed to awarded projects in December for the completion of environmental service-learning projects throughout the 2012 calendar year.

GreenSchools! Students from a SC PLT GreenSchoolat NYLC Conference in AtlantaEarlier this month, students from the Green Team at Lowcountry Preparatory School in Pawleys Island, SC travelled to Atlanta, GA for the National Youth Leadership Council’s National Service-Learning Conference. They joined National PLT staff members James McGirt and Al Stenstrup to co-present a session about PLT’s GreenSchools! program that was attended by 40 conference participants. The student representatives consisted of five sophomore students (Elizabeth Zieser, Maddy Gates, Carolyn Culbertson, Rachael Exum, and Emily Goins) who have been their school’s Green Team leaders during the past year. They were mentored by two faculty members, Science Instructor Michelle Neubauer and English Instructor Shannon Lewis. Carla Rapp, GA PLT State Coordinator, also joined us at the conference.
The students were the key ingredients of the presentation. They shared their work by demonstrating the use of monitoring equipment, presenting their PLT GreenSchool success story, along with data they have collected as a result of conducting the PLT GreenSchools! Investigations.
The students showed great leadership and poise in sharing their story, and answered numerous questions from other students and faculty in the audience to demonstrate how they too could reduce their school’s environmental footprint while learning core subjects. Several of the schools represented in the audience have since registered on the PLT GreenSchools! website.
The Lowcountry Prep students also participated in other events at the conference, including visiting a university in Atlanta and having many discussions with other student leaders from across the country.
During the last year, the PLT GreenSchools! program has supported Green Teams from seven different schools to speak about and celebrate their work at national education conferences. This emphasis on “youth voice” is providing students a national stage to demonstrate the skills and talents of students participating in PLT’s GreenSchools! program.

GreenSchools! National Student Advisory BoardIn other efforts to ensure authentic student voice is a driving force in PLT’s GreenSchools! service-learning program, the national PLT office held its first ever GreenSchools! Student Advisory Board conference call during the last week in March. Middle and high school students from Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington participated on the call, along with four teachers. These conscientious and innovative students plan to have monthly conference calls to:

Review PLT GreenSchools! action grant proposals in fall of 2011 Provide leadership and mentoring to new PLT GreenSchools! Green Teams Participate in online PLT GreenSchools! tutorials Develop strategies to support local, national, and global environmental initiatives
Other states with potential middle or high school student candidates for the PLT GreenSchools! Student Advisory Board are encouraged to send names to James at jmcgirt@forestfoundation.org.

Curriculum Update

(October 27-29), New Orleans, LA (November 10-12), and Seattle, WA (December 8-10.) National PLT will once again attend, present, and host an exhibit. We hope to see some of you there!

2011 International Year of Forests
On March 30, AFF co-hosted with the USDA Forest Service and National Association of State Foresters a special celebration in Washington, DC to mark the official U.S. launch of 2011 International Year of Forests.
We were pleased that Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack chose our event to announce the USDA’s new strategy to promote the use of wood as a green building material. Congressmen Goodlatte (R-VA) and Schrader (D-OR) also spoke to voice their support for policies that help sustain America’s forests. Five State Foresters, key Administration officials, and over 300 environmental and industry leaders attended the event.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

REFLECTION of NAIS Challenge 20/20- 7 years/ Poverty & Global Warming

From Turkey:
At the beginning of this school year, our students read the part about global warming in Rischard’s book: “High Noon: 20 Problems / 20 Years To Solve Them”, then they watched the documantery of Al Gore; “Inconvenient Truth” to have some idea about different opinions on the problem. During student club sessions they made researches about the effects of global warming, especially in our city. The most significant fact that they realized was the limited attempts to prevent global warming and diminish the effects of climate change. During these researches, they’ve found that the consumption of fossil fuels in our country is the most important reason of extreme climate events like floods and drought in our country. In this context, they made a survey in our school with teachers to find out some information about the percentage of motor vehicles used by teachers.

After the first Skype meeting with Salman, our students were excited about making a project about carbon footprint of our school, but unfortunately our resources were limited for the project. We have contacted some companies to help us but the prices they charged were too high for us. Therefore, we decided to get help from the department of Environmental Sciences of Middle East Technical University for the next school year.

Our school year ends on June, 17. Until this date we have plans to accomodate a guest speaker from UNDP (United Nations Developmental Projects) about carbon footprint. Our aim is to make our school one of the leading schools in our city that assimilated the importance of being an environmental friendly community. In this context, we are going to take part in a project called CLIMES which aims mentoring schools in Turkey about being green schools. During this project, some of our students and teachers will be educated in one of the European countries for a week and they will educate other teachers and students in our school to take steps in being a green school.

Our students raised some money by fairs and will use this money for their future projects about raising awareness about global warming in our community. They have started with preparing a powerpoint presentation about the problem and it’s effects on Turkey to educate primary school students in both private and public schools. They also started a campaign to encourage students in our school to involve in the “Tree Planting Fair” that is organized each year by Middle East Technical University. They are trying to raise awareness around school community about using public transport instead of using individual vehicles for transportation to and from school.

As being a private school, we have the opportunity to make changes in our curriculum so we have integrated the topic global warming in our Biology and Geography curriculums at each level in our high school. This topic was already being covered in national curriculum but we extended the hours of lessons that we talk about global warming and effects of climate change. During these lessons we make our students watch movies, documentaries and read articles about the topic to emphasize the importance of the problem. Also our Turkish Literature and Language department organizes debates to encourage our students to share ideas about environmental problems.



During this years partnership in Challenge 20/20, we had some Skype meetings but unfortunately it was diffucult to contact each week as we can come together once a week on Thursdays and because of time difference between two countries we were able to communicate for only 10-15 minutes.Therefore, we preffered to communicate via email which was more convenient for us. As our partnership progressed, we were amazed by the works done by Salman and greatly appreciated his efforts as being such an enthusiastic young person. I don’t know if Salman will still be in your school but we wish to continue our partnership with you for the next years Challenge 20 /20 project on the same topic.




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The history of Challenge 20/20 @ Casady School

In the school year 2010-2011 NAIS Challenge 20/20 became a path to peace for a freshman student.

Salman, a student who came from the only Oklahoma Green School in 2010, Deer Creek, stated that he wanted to create a Green Team for Casady School as his path to peace. He also had the goal of motivating other schools in our city and globally to LIVE GREEN.  He developed a partnerhip and applied to be a member of the Oklahoma Green Schools Pilot Program.  http://www.okgreenschools.org/  In the summer, Salman and Shiva will spend time as interns at the Department of Environmental Quality to learn more about recycling and provide the youth perspective to the Oklahoma Green Schools website.

NAIS Challenge 20/20 provided a school in Turkey as a partner for Salman this year.  The School in Turkey changed from reforestation to global warming to become Casady's partner school.

The teams communicated twice in 2010 and twice in 2011 via SKYPE. The sponsor in Turkey changed due to maternity leave of absence.  Salman offered Mr. Les Pace, energy expert from Oklahoma Green Schools and the Green School website, as resources for the Turkey program.



Salman read parts of the book, High Noon, and then concentrated in learning about the Green Schools Oklahoma program and helping them find a kids' friendly carbon footprint online calculator. He realized he had been led at Deer Creek, but he did not know enough to lead others with the tools provided by the Green Schools Pilot program.   During MLK Day, he organized a "train the trainer" workshop, where interested Casady students had the opportunity to help the Oklahoma Green Schoool  decide what kids and teacher friendly carbon footprint survey they were going to promote in their website. Experts from the Oklahoma Green Schools use this time with possible members of the Casady Green Team YES to demonstrate how to use energy audit tools also.

Salman helped recruit Mercy School as a pilot Green School and did a follow-up with Keystone Adventure School, an elementary school, which due to flooding, did not finish its certification as a green school last year.

Salman in collaboration with Mr. Les Pace also helped a Casady 7th grader do an energy audit of the 7th grade rooms as her project for the Casady MD science fair.  Katie's energy audit project won first place in the science competition regionals.


April, 5-9, 2011, Salman attended the National Service-Learning Conference in Atlanta, where he had a short presentation of his path to peace, Greening Oklahoma, one school and one person at a time to the Shinnyo-en fellows and participants interested in the stories of how 3 schools around the USA (Casady-OKC, Blake School-Minneapolis, and White Plains-New York) were Actualizing the Six Billion Paths to Peace Initiative of the Shinnyo-en Foundation http://www.sef.org/.

Upon Salman's return to Oklahoma City, Shiva joined the Casady Green Team and helped Salman work at the Planet Nichols Hills Earth Day Birthday Celebration. Salman and Shiva had a booth where they demonstrated the Green Schools Tool Kit and motivated people to take an online carbon footprint survey.  They are conducting energy audits of our LEED certified math building and have started a turn off lights and computers campaign in the Upper Division at the end of each school day.

Shiva and Mrs. Clay participated in the Environmental Club, Adopt a Street Clean-up to celebrate Earth Day.  The clean-up was part of a city initiative sponsored by OKC Beautiful http://okcbeautiful.com/index.php called Litter Blitz.  As the article http://newsok.com/litter-blitz-focuses-on-cigarette-butts-in-oklahoma-city/article/3560439 states, Casady students also found out that the majority of the litter comes from cigarrette buds.  Salman had intentions of asking Environmental Club students to take the carbon footprint survey before or after the clean-up, but due to illness, he was unable to attend. 

Mrs. Clay requested interested Environmental Club take the ecological footprint survey available at the the Green School website.  The few people who took the ecological footprint realized that it took at least 5 earths to allow us to live the way we live now.


In the area of poverty and hunger in the school year 2010-2011, Challenge 20/20 YAC was not assigned an NAIS partner school.  Casady YAC focused on working with two local non-profits fighting poverty, Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and Habitat for Humanity. In collaboration with STUCO, the Casady YAC; intergenerational advisory council with one purpose, SERVE, helped raise awareness, funding and cans for the Food Bank in November. On May 29, 2011, a member of YAC will be faciliting our 7th Walk the World OKC in collaboration with the Food Bank and the United Nations of Greater Oklahoma.

Jasmine facilitated YAC's first Global Youth Service Day at the Food Bank where she promoted the walk. Jasmine, Shiva, and John attended the  UN annual lunch to promote the walk. The goal this year is to raise awareness and the number of walkers coming with at least a $10 donation for a lap around the lake. During Global Youth Service Day at the Food Bank, Jasmine motivated people to learn about the UN World Food Programme and child feeding programs at the Food Bank.


The Casady Student Council led the fundraising efforts for Habitat for Humanity and YAC member Cecil facilitated the construction of the first house Casady students partially build. STUCO in collaboration with YAC and winter sports athletes and coaches framed "our habitat house" on MLK day. We also helped place the rafters and did exterior and interior painting and touch up as well as being present at the dedication ceremony of the house. STUCO presented a check to the CEO of Habitat for close to $3,000 raised in various fundraising activities.

Due to the economic crisis, the global education service-learning program with Peru stayed dormant in the year 2010-2011.




FULL HISTORY

Casady Challenge 20/20 was a roller coaster ride, worth the price of admission, of youth voice, choice, and process from its inception. Our Challenge 20/20 exploration started when Andrew Griffin’07 was a freshman. His idea was to import children’s art from remote villages, sell it and use the proceeds to meet educational needs. NAIS paired Andrew with a Ugandan high school and a museum youth board in Ollantaytambo, Peru. The relationship with the school was short, but the high school’s Headmaster has visited Oklahoma City and our campus several times. Our community has supported his school’s needs for several years. Andrew’s search for a local partner culminated with World Neighbors (WN). Andrew discovered that a relative of his was the founder of WN. WorldFest, their yearly fundraiser, sold imported goods from villages with proceeds supporting projects in those villages. This made World Neighbors a perfect Challenge 20/20 project for Andrew. He became a founding member of the WN Youth Board. In the two years that Andrew led the Board, they raised $20,000. Casady students still participate in World Neighbors WorldFest activities.

Andrew found fertile ground for his vision in two younger creative students, Leann Farha’08 and Ankita Prasad’08. Leann organized a grassroots Walk the World OKC’05 benefiting the United Nations World Food Programme, School Feeding. She participated in Walk the World 2005 debriefing in Rome, Italy. Upon her return from Italy, Leann led Walk the World OKC’2006-2008 raising $25,000. Leann’s efforts led to an increased number of walkers every year and became a citywide outreach. She was also an active WN Youth Board member. Her work continued in June 2009 when a group of freshmen boys led by Graham Bennett’12 had their first Walk the World OKC 2009. Leann believes that four years with the project enabled her to overcome insecurities and transformed a shy girl, terrified of public speaking into a confident leader, an effective communicator, and organizer. She stated, “I received more than I gave fighting to eradicate childhood hunger.”

Our relationship with the museum youth board in Peru started very simply with their bilingual exposure to the book High Noon. The museum’s youth board sought collaboration with a local elementary school of Ollantaytambo, Peru. They joined Leann to raise awareness of global hunger. They hosted a Walk the World,Ollantaytambo’06. Manco Inca Elementary School became our Global Service-Learning Education partner after the walk. In June 2008, the first group of Casady Service-learning students arrived in Ollantaytambo. In June 2009, the second group followed. Fifteen Casady students and three faculty members traveled to Peru to participate in a combined service, language immersion, and homestay experience managed by World Leadership School. In collaboration with other independent schools such as Lakeside of Seattle (in its 8th year in Ollantaytambo) and Groton School of Boston, Casady students are transforming a pile of rubble into the ecological playground –“LAND OF CHILDREN”- designed and maintained by the children. The children with guidance from US teens have also developed a full recycling program for their school and are expanding the program to their homes and town. The teens from the United States have gained knowledge of the Quechua language, enhanced understanding of fair trade practices, and an appreciation of a slow pace of life that reverances nature. The Ollantaytambo “Land of Children” is being documented via donated digital cameras and blogs. In June 2009, Casady students presented their experience in Ollantaytambo at the Second International Service-Learning Conference in Teacher Education in Galway, Ireland. Casady students will return to Ollantaytambo in June, 2010 when they will promote the creation of a trilingual picture book of the Ollantaytambo, Land of Children experience. The faculty leader of the second Ollantaytambo trip, Kari Bornhoft, stated, “When asked to take a group of students to Peru, I had mixed emotions. I would have the chance to see one of the great wonders of the world (Machu Picchu), to experience another Latin culture, to spend time with a group of students in a way no other educator can in normal conditions… The two weeks I spent in Peru were exhausting. It was an incredible learning experience for both the students and faculty. We grew as a team and did equally as individuals. All of us had our highs and lows and as we were stretched found our capabilities mentally, physically, and emotionally.”

During her freshman year, Ankita Prasad’08 wore a “can costume” to motivate lower division students to donate for our canned food drive. As Ankita learned about related global issues of poverty and the problems with consistent communication with our partners, she realized that perhaps the best focus was the creation of global issues youth councils following the guidelines for Global Issues Networks described in High Noon. She promoted the idea with our partners in Uganda and Peru without success. Ankita attended the Challenge 20/20 leaders’ conference in Boston and became a member of the Students against Hunger Youth Board at the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and of the World Neighbors Youth Board. She was also a “priceless” summer intern at World Neighbors and she became the preferred youth advisor when organizations explored youth board possibilities for their institutions. As the leader of Challenge 20/20, the canned food drive became the Casady Cans Do Project. Casady Cans Do quadrupled our whole school contribution to the Food Bank during Ankita’s tenure. She added learning components such as categorization games and canned sculpture competitions. She promoted “Food Bank Lunches” to raise awareness of what meals the Food Bank provides from donations and inspired ceramics classes to make bowls for auction during the Food Bank lunch as a reminder of the kids whose bowls would be empty in the evening. Proceeds of the Empty Bowls Silent Auction went to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma Food-4-Kids Program. She was also part of Walk the World, but her goal was to seek funding and awareness of the hunger problem in Oklahoma City. Ankita presented Casady's NAIS Challenge 20/20 at the First International Service-Learning Conference in Teacher Education in Brussels and developed an informal partnership with one of the conference participants, a history teacher, from the American School in Brussels. She also presented the NAIS Challenge 20/20 opportunity at the Department of Environmental Quality-Earth Day 2008 Celebration at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Ankita stated, “Service Learning is a great way for Casady students to give back to their community. I believe that participating in service learning not only benefits our community but also broadens student’s outlook on life. Service Learning has given me so many opportunities to change my school, my community and finally my world. Projects like Challenge 20/20 help Casady students become connected to schools across the world and discuss local problems in a global setting. The Casady Cans Do project has raised awareness and collected funds to help eradicate hunger in Oklahoma. No matter what your passion is, you can find a service learning project that is right for you.”

During Ankita’s senior year, members of the Class of 2011 shifted the focus of the Challenge 20/20 project to awareness of the human print in global warming and climate change. Rebecca Roach’11 and Josh Ou’11 are the current Challenge 20/20 leaders at Casady School. In the past two years, they have read High Noon, have seen The Inconvenient Truth, contacted Sierra Club representatives and Casady faculty to raise awareness and help promote recycling in our school. Josh and Rebecca wrote and were awarded a Facing the Future grant to provide cameras to document climate change in OKC and Peru. Our international discussion collaborators in the area of Global Warming/Climate Change challenge were the school in Brussels, Mount Saint Mary School of Pennsylvania, and the Cloud Forest School in Costa Rica. These efforts were not very successful, yet Josh created a website and we learned how to have SKYPE teleconferences with Costa Rican students.

Rebecca and Josh focused on recyling and awareness and reduction of carbon footprint and water conservation. One of the adult sponsors of this project is also interested in awareness of ecological footprint and energy conservation. Thanks to an "informal partnership" with the Oklahoma Green Schools Pilot Program, Josh has obtained recycling bins to promote recycling of cans and plastic and he is in the process of developing a stronger collaboration with the Casady Environmental Club and the Casady administrative efforts in turning our school greener. Josh stated, When I first joined the Challenge 20/20 group my freshmen year, I was completely oblivious that I would become the president of this group my junior year. During the early stages, we would have only dreamt of having a cans and plastic recycling on a regular bases; we are also in the process of constructing two new LEED buildings on our campus.”

Our new partners in 2009-2010 were a school in China and a school in New York. The Casady group tried to communicate with the school in China with no response.  We managed to communicate with the school in New York a couple of times. They were active in promoting awareness of carbon footprint in younger students and we were told that they created a manual for that purpose.  We asked them to send the information to be shared with our MD and LD, but the exchanged did not happened.  Internally, the NAIS Challenge 20/20 work continued  its focus on Global Warming.  Following the leadership of the school in New York, Casady's Challenge 20/20 became more proactive at mentoring the Middle Division Environmental Club.  On Earth Day, we planted 10 trees in collaboration with the Middle Division.  The Green Schools Committee helped us get the trees.  They also linked us to an architectural firm that enhanced our understanding of LEED constructions, since our school was building the first LEED certified building on campus.  The Challenge 20/20 team promoted the usage of alluminum water bottles to replace the plastic that is polluting our oceans due to our love for convenience.  NAIS Challenge 20/20 leaders, as a result of being part of the pilot green school program unoficially, received recycling containers to increase our Environmental Club recycling program from paper only to plastic and cans.  During Earth Day 2010, Challenge 20/20 brought alternative energy cars on campus.  Upper, Middle, and Lower Division students were introduced to electric cars.  Josh, the leader of Challenge 20/20 received an award in the form of funding to attend the Six Billion Paths to Peace Retreat in San Francisco based on his work from freshmen to junior year as a Challenge 20/20 YAC member and leader.  http://web.mac.com/casadycrier/iWeb/Challenge%202020%20Website/Home/Home.html.

Josh continues to be part of the Environmental Club in 2010-2011. He has provided guidance to the new leader, freshman, Salman, from time to time.

In the  area of hunger, Casady YAC continued its commitment to helping end childhoood hunger by the year 2015, millennium goal of the United Nations. We had a record year of can donations to the Casady Cans Do Food Drive in the month of November 2009 under the leadership of STUCO and YAC leaders like Aamina. NAIS Challenge 20/20 Global Warming leaders, Josh and Sarah facilitated the Walk the World 2010 around the State Capitol.  Freshman Shiva, became a great supporter of this walk.  It was a small walk which raised about $1,000 for the United Nations World Food Programme and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma Food-4-Kids Program and promoted ZUMBA as an alternative way to be active and have fun. 

For 2010-2011...see first part of this reflection.