The Green Ambassadors at Shadow Valley Elementary School

Shadow Valley Elementary School, an environmental magnet school located in Ogden, Utah, is a new, LEED-certified school. LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system. Certification factors in energy and water efficiency volume of carbon dioxide emissions and materials. While Shadow Valley's school building itself is a model of environmental sustainability, student leaders, known as the Green Ambassadors, actively engage students, parents, faculty and community members in water conservation.

For National Environmental Education Week 2010 (EE Week), the Green Ambassadors tackled the issue of water conservation by providing weekly water tips during the school's televised morning announcements, designing and distributing a water wise flyer, interviewing cafeteria and janitorial staff for water conservation ideas and scheduling a "water wise" assembly. In preparation for the assembly, the Green Ambassadors contacted Ogden Nature Center and other local environmental organizations for water conservation tips. They also wrote and recorded short video segments on water conservation and authored a water conservation song with a set of Physical Education exercises related to water conservation, which they taught the entire school during the assembly.

Classes throughout Shadow Valley Elementary focused on water and energy in celebration of EE Week's 2010 theme: Be Water and Energy Wise. Students in grades K-3 made water conservation posters to take home and share with their families while 4th-6th graders completed personal water audits and compared their water usage to children from Kenya. The students also created commercials about using non-toxic cleaning products. All grades spent time exploring the pond and stream behind the school and learned about the plants and animals that call the Shadow Valley campus home.

"Students, teachers, staff and parents at Shadow Valley Elementary are working hard to accomplish our mission of ‘walking the walk' when it comes to environmental stewardship," said environmental specialist Melissa Robinson. "Participating in EE Week is a fun and enriching way to accomplish this mission."

Submitted by Melissa Robinson, Shadow Valley Elementary School

Do you have an EE Week story to share? Email it to EEWeek@neefusa.org

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