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| Lunch served on Styrofoam trays at Bolivar-Richburg Middle-High School |
BOLIVAR – As Greek Philosopher Diogenes once said, “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” If you visit Bolivar, you’ll see this phrase inscribed on the outside of the Middle-High School. A group of students are channeling this passage and seek your to help pave the way for the future. If you live in the BRCS District boundary zone, please take five minutes of your time to answer their 10 question survey. Sophomore students at Bolivar-Richburg want the community's input on their extracurricular project: studying Styrofoam tray usage in schools. These students were inspired when they attended a Regional Youth Climate Summit in Buffalo earlier this year. During this conference, the group made an action plan with the goal of researching the impacts of using reusable hard plastic trays vs. Styrofoam trays used in the Middle-High School. In early September they started their goal. The group has been regularly meeting to identify challenges, research, create goals, and come up with recommendations. "I just thought about all of the garbage building up day after day" says student Austin Parker, "and I just thought to myself, is this the best we can be doing in my hometown?"
Now with several months of research, they are turning toward the community and asking: Can you please fill out our survey? The students have been conducting surveys to assess how their fellow students and community members feel about the use of Styrofoam in schools, but have had trouble reaching the greater community at-large. It is particularly important to get this kind of input, as residents of Bolivar, Richburg, Genesee, Little Genesee, Ceres, Clarksville, Wirt, and all pay school taxes. There are a little over 4,000 residents that live in this zone, and their input will be used when the students' decide on their recommendations to the school. The survey is located online here: http://bit.ly/
This group of students is mirroring the work already being done at the WEE Center, which features an outdoor pavilion classroom, chickens, ducks, a compost pile, fruit trees, and large garden. The semester-long extra-curricular project will culminate in a presentation to the school board in which the students will demonstrate their findings on Styrofoam. The date of this presentation is undecided, but is on track for spring 2020. For more questions, or to request a paper copy, please call (585) 928-4249 or email BRCSStyroFoamSurvey@gmail.com.
