Glenbow School in Cochrane is known for teaching students about caring for the environment, so it made sense for them to become an EcoSchool.
The school set the bar low for their first shot at the EcoSchool certification. What they didn’t expect was to achieve the highest level of accreditation.
“We were just looking for bronze certification, but there were so many initiatives that our school was interested in doing, we earned enough points to get the platinum certification,” the principal of Glenbow School, Jason Billings, told Cochrane Now.
He believed it was important to recognize the efforts of the students and staff and celebrate their positive impact on the environment. What better way to celebrate than a shiny platinum certification?
EcoSchools Canada is a program that recognizes schools for their environmental efforts. It is the largest voluntary environmental certification program for K-12 schools in Canada.
Glenbow School has been involved in environmental initiatives for a long time, with a compost program, community garden, and recycling efforts.
They also started the EcoSquad, led by grade 3 and 4 students, who introduced more initiatives like using Good On One Side paper, creating reusable bags from old t-shirts, and working on a pollinator garden.
One of their notable events was the Great Gulp during Earth Week, where they encouraged students to use reusable water bottles instead of single-use ones.
During the event, the EcoSquad went from class to class to educate their peers about the negative impact of plastic bottles and organized a gathering where everyone took a sip from their reusable bottles.
The EcoSquad meets every Monday to coordinate initiatives with the help of teachers like Jenn Jensen, who has taught at Glenbow School for ten years.
“Even though we do a lot of these other practices in the school, with EcoSchools, it has to be delivered by the students. They have to do the education, they have to go around and educate others,” commented Jensen.
Earning the platinum EcoSchools certification was no easy feat. To become certified, the school had to document their initiatives and earn points through activities on the EcoSchools website.
There are bronze, silver, and gold certifications. Platinum certification is reserved for schools that go above and beyond by achieving over 100 points on the EcoSchools website.
“Quite a bit of work went into documenting and sharing and so the EcoSchools committee that we’ve got here they’ve done a lot of extra work in charting and documenting all of the stuff our students have done this year,” said principal Billings.
Other Rocky View Schools, such as Cochrane and Chestermere High, are also certified as EcoSchools.
Glenbow School is proud of its achievement and looks forward to planning more initiatives for the next school year. EcoSquad will come up with a plan to continue its environmental efforts and make a positive impact on the planet.
