South Lake Middle School Now an Evergreen School

South Lake Middle School ended this school year on a high note with a school-wide celebration of a significant “green” achievement.

The school earned the title of Evergreen School, which is the highest status in the Michigan Green Schools program.

Michigan Green Schools is a nonprofit agency dedicated to assisting all state schools to achieve environmental goals, which include protecting the state’s resources and animals, promoting good ecological practices, and teaching educational stewardship.

There are three attainable levels in the Green Schools program: Green, Emerald and Evergreen. Each designation indicates a school’s level of dedication to environmental practices.

The Green Schools program provides 20 points that schools need to follow in order to attain the different designations. The points include various environmental and energy-saving activities.

Schools that achieve 10 out of the 20 points earn the Green status and ones that complete 15 are named Emerald. Achieving all 20 points earns schools the top ranking: Evergreen.

South Lake Middle School first became a Green School in the 2008-09 school year. The following year, the school earned the Emerald status, and this year it received the top designation.

“Becoming an Evergreen School had always been my goal and the kids’ goal,” said Kathy Tisdale, faculty adviser for the Green Team.

Under Tisdale’s guidance, South Lake Middle School implemented several new environmentally friendly initiatives this year, including the recycling of cardboard and juice pouches, and the installation of insulation panels for electrical outlets. The insulation goes between the wall and the cover plate to prevent the escape of warm air in the winter and cold air in the summer.

South Lake parent Michael Damiani came to the school on a Saturday in February to spearhead the insulation project.

Also, students, staff and parents planted a garden with native plants to provide a habitat for local animals. The garden includes birdhouses that students built at home, and a birdbath purchased with raised funds.

Tisdale and her husband, Greg, planted two evergreen trees – one in the garden and one in front of the school. They plan to add a plaque to the tree in the front, designating that it’s in celebration of the Green Team’s accomplishment.

Being green has truly become the standard way to operate at South Lake Middle School, Tisdale said.

Under the guidance of art teacher Diane Prainito, art classes made several Earth Day posters using only recycled materials, and some of those will be on display in the school’s media center along with the Green School flag.

Also, custodian Linda Hatch set up a recycling center in the cafeteria, making it easy for students to recycle candy-bar wrappers, glass and pop bottles. She also made sure to recycle all cardboard from school deliveries, Tisdale said.

The Green Team is made up of 25 eighth-graders who met after school every Thursday for approximately an hour. The students discussed fundraising initiatives and how to promote recycling in the school. They also painstakingly flattened out and wiped-clean hundreds of juice pouches and then sent them to a recycling center, which paid them 2 cents per pouch.

Members of the Green Team regularly emptied paper recycling bins form all classrooms, the media center and main office. They also participated in eco-friendly activities, such as hanging natural birdfeeders around the school last January.

The birdfeeders consisted of pine cones rolled in peanut butter then sprinkled with bird seeds. The students used yarn to hang the feeders around the perimeter of the school.

“The birds eat the seeds and use the yarn to make nests,” Tisdale said, adding that the club’s parent sponsor, Angie Skiba, was instrumental in coordinating the activity.

To raise funds for their club, the Green Team sold bagels, juice pouches and green-colored goodies throughout the year. The majority of this year’s funds was used to purchase a wooden bench for the school garden in honor of retiring Principal Richard Norsigian.

During the school’s Evergreen celebration, students presented the bench to Norsigian along with another surprise: an unexpected appearance by his wife, Barbara, who joined him in sitting on the bench.

Tisdale said the Green Team put a lot of effort into working toward the Evergreen School title.

“I’m very proud to be involved with such a motivated, self-directed and empathetic group of individuals,” she said. “Most of the ideas came from the students on the Green Team, and then they acted on achieving their goals.”

Tisdale added that everybody came on board, from staff to students to parents, making this a true community effort.

South Lake Middle School is the only Evergreen School in the district, but others are catching up. The Koepsell Education Center became a Green School last year, and and earned the title this year.