Recycling catching on at Miller Middle School

By Frances Vanderploeg

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008 | midnight

When Bob Miller Middle School teacher Jennifer Seitz visited Japan on a study tour this summer, she was amazed how proactive the communities were about recycling.

Everywhere you go, multiple cans are available for trash, and everyone is steadfast in separating their trash before tossing it, she said.

"I was just so impressed with all of it," she said.

Seitz has decided to bring that back to her school by starting a recycling club, which has so far attracted about 30 members, she said. Twice a week, members go around the school and collect recyclables from each classroom.

She's not the only one reaching out to recycle, though. Schools across Henderson are finding ways to incorporate recycling into the curriculum or as an after-school club.

Del Webb Middle School and Lyal Burkholder Junior High School have just started recycling programs, along with Green Valley High School and Hank and Barbara Greenspun Junior High School. Liberty and Silverado high schools have established programs at their schools, as well as Sue Morrow and Ulis Newton elementary schools.

"The point of school is to teach kids how to live when they're older," said Jennifer Newman-Cornell, a teacher at Cimarron-Memorial High School and volunteer recycling coordinator for the School District. "We want to teach them we don't have to be as wasteful as we are. Even if it's just an awareness, at least they will start to consider it."

At Morrow, students in the Gifted and Talented Education program have been learning about recycling for about seven years, teacher Lena Cook said. The last couple of years the students have won several national awards for their efforts, which have brought them out of the classroom and into the community.

Cook is also the Gifted and Talented Education teacher at Newton. She hasn't been there as long, so the efforts aren't as widespread yet, but the school does have a recycling program in place, she said. At the end of the day on Fridays, members of the student council walk the halls, picking up recycling boxes from teachers' classrooms.

"We've been doing a lot for a long time, but I think more and more people are seeing it as a necessity in our world," Cook said.

At Miller, students have been excited to get involved in the recycling club. In groups of five or six students, members of the club canvass the school every Tuesday and Thursday to pick up any recyclables.

Josephine Cordova, 13, said she and some of her friends have also been working to spread "Green Fridays," where students wear green every Friday to show support of the recycling efforts. They haven't made formal announcements, but they've sent out text messages to friends to spread the word and said a number of people are starting to participate.

Seitz said she has been impressed with how many people have been touched by the recycling efforts without her originally knowing it. Some students have told her they can't come to club meetings after school, so they're promoting recycling at home or in their neighborhoods instead, she said.

Frances Vanderploeg can be reached at 990-2660 or [email protected].