Alberta High School Selected for Global Environmental Contest

Taylor Perez says he learned more about his passion at a high school in central Alberta, taking care of beehives, goats, and fruit trees rather than taking lessons in the classroom. increase.

"These are all skills that you can't master in a regular class," says an 18-year-old student atRakumu Complex High School, about 130km south of Edmonton.

"Learning about E I'm not going to learn how to sit in a classroom and collaborate with community members

Perez and her classmates get excited after a student-led beekeeping program at school Busy with, goat farms, orchards, tropical greenhouses and other environmental projects have been recognized in 10 other global sustainability contests.

T4 Education is the only North American school to be finalized, Global Advocacy Group, World's Best School Award for Environmental Action Contest.

"The project is to be environmentally friendly Comes from the students' own heart and passion, "said a teacher of agriculture and environmental science who has been teaching at Lacombe since 1996.

"They will be our community leaders, perhaps our politicians, and it is very important for them to know what the heartbeat of their generation is."

Schultz states that the project will be proposed and designed by students of the Ecovision Club of the school to which Perez belongs, and then the curriculum will be based on those ideas.

In 2006, when a former student heard Schultz say "words are meaningless or worthless without action" during a renewable energy class, a school of about 900 students was in the environment. Started to reduce footprint. I remember the 56-year-old teacher.

"She kept that in mind and said she wanted to come back a year later and take the school off the grid."

Schultz and the students went to school in 2010. I saw the solar panels on the roof burn out in a fire. This is an event that has changed his approach to education.

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"Students wept while the school was on fire. That day, I really was a student. I realized that I was interested in the environment and really interested in the projects they were involved in. "

Since then, 32 new solar panels have been installed and It produces up to 4% of school power. After the fire, the students wanted to clean the classroom air, so they were filled with spider plants, including those in the teacher's lounge.

Recently, students replaced an old portable classroom on the school grounds with a greenhouse that runs solely on renewable energy. We grow tropical fruits such as bananas, pineapples and lemons, as well as tilapia fish.

The school's two acres also consist of about 200 fruit trees and 50 raised beds, covered by an edible forest where organic food is grown.

The school also works with local farms to raise baby goats in solar barns built from recycled materials.

"The regulations are so strict that we breed and milk on farms," ​​says Schultz.

"We take excrement from goats and hay and use it as a root covering and fertilizer in the garden. Goats also need to chew the grass and use a lawn mower or tractor.

Perez said her favorite class is a bee-raising program with 12 nest boxes that produce over 300 kilograms of honey each year.

"I love them having different roles in their own small society," Perez says of bees.

When she works with local businesses and groups as part of her curriculum, she learns that she is passionate about the environment and she wants to be a pharmacist. That way, you can continue to give back to the community.

Former shy 10th grade James Finley, Ecovision Club and Environmental Class make him a comfortable zone It is said that it helped to get out of.

"I made friends, but it was hard at first, but now there are hundreds," says a 16-year-old who enjoyed the harvest lessons.

"Taylor and Schultz were the main people who made me stay."

Schultz states that the winner of the contest will be announced in the fall.

The prize pool of approximately $ 322,000 will be evenly distributed among the five winners.

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