Meeting Minutes 3-27-06

In attendance:
Principal Sharon Birnkrant (GGI Advisor):
sbirnk54@scsd.us

Adam Luban (Rotakin Co-Vice president)

Abraham Odom (Rotakin Energy Committee)

Jennifer Spoor - Syracuse City Go Green Coordinator:
echoeseye@rock.com

G-enerate Compost: H.W. Smith Elementary School is not currently composting, however stay tuned!

R-educe, R-euse, R-ecycle: H.W. Smith works with NEED (National Energy Education Development) to reduce energy usage and save money for the school.  The recycling program at HW Smith involves students as well custodial guidance to collect and recycle materials for weekly pickup. Select 6th graders collect recycling every Monday. Every room in H.W. has a blue bin, which is utilized for recycling purposes. By collecting and recycling aluminum cans students raised $1,500, which they sent to Thailand for tsunami relief. Students are now collecting cans for hurricane relief in New Orleans.

E-ducate: Students at H.W. Smith are bombarded with energy saving tips.  Every morning a reminder to turn off lights when they are not needed is announced along with the morning school news. Students at H.W. Smith made an educational video about energy savings and hope to make it into a television broadcasted commercial. Flyers line the hallways and classrooms reminding students, faculty, staff and parents to use their blue bins and recycle.

E-valuate the impact of every-day activities: Energy conservation is HUGE at H.W Smith. In fact they saved 500 hours of electricity last month by, "turning off the lights, turning on your brains and letting the math and reading juices flow."  Principal Birnkrant recently learned that H.W. Smith placed 4th, in the Syracuse district, for energy conservation (this is despite construction on the school, during which a great deal more energy was required than what would normally be used). In efforts to keep the heat on lower at the school, students who bring in sweatshirts or sweaters are rewarded with a comic book about energy conservation. Students record hours of time in which each classroom has turned off un-needed lighting by keeping sticker charts.  The classroom with the most stickers and energy savings is rewarded at the end of the year.

N-ationalize the principles of responsible paper consumption: paper is conserved whenever possible at H.W. Smith.

Keep up the good work!