Parkway South Middle's Upcycling Receives Parkway Earth Day Award

Since the 1990s, Parkway School District has had a long standing, and ever increasing, commitment to being environmentally responsible. In addition to single stream recycling throughout the district, Parkway has piloted a program to discontinue the use of Styrofoam lunch trays. Beginning at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year, four elementary schools, one middle, and one high school were selected to test the use of a much more environmentally friendly tray. The new trays are made of 100 percent recycled paper fibers, are 100 percent compostable and are made in America at a facility in Hammond, Indiana.

In addition, Parkway has begun to install solar panel systems in all the schools.  Over the life of the twenty year project, Parkway's solar panels will prevent the release of 15,048 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That is the equivalent of planting nearly 385,000 trees.

Parkway took another step in 'going green' by beginning the transition of its fleet of 150 buses to use cleaner, healthier compressed natural gas fuel, which will improve air quality.

Mr. Erik Lueders, Parkway's Sustainability & Purchasing Manager, adds, "The grant was awarded last fall. There's been a significant amount of planning involved. We will start with converting 30 buses."

Parkway also participates in scrap metal recycling, such as old copper, lead, aluminum, steel and iron. Additionally, Parkway sells surplus furniture and unwanted items through govdeals.com, which is similar to Ebay, but only open to government agencies.

In honor of this year's Earth Day, at a recent Board of Education meeting, Lueders recognized four schools, including South Middle, for its creative and 'green' initiatives with its first ever Parkway Earth Day Award. (The other schools include Barretts Elementary, Mason Ridge Elementary and North High).

Twenty-six 7th grade art students at South Middle 'up-cyled' old hubcaps from automobiles and turned them into stunning art projects.  Up-cycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

Mrs. Karen Silverman, South Middle's art teacher, adds, "Rather than just recycling old car parts, we actually turned them into art to display. It was a fun way to teach our students there is more than just one way to 'go green'."

The project incorporated the seven elements of art that have been discussed in class to create their hubcap designs. In addition, they used the theme of nature; some students even incorporated plastics, leaves, twigs, flower and beans into their design.

"I was amazed at the variety of clever ideas, and how no two hubcaps are remotely similar. One surprising advantage that the South Middle community found, is that math teachers in the school started taking their classes to the main hallway, where the hubcaps hang, and are able to teach about the different types of symmetry and have their students identify the symmetry. So this project has been a win-win for all!", comments Silverman. 

Parkway is hosting its first ever Earth Day community event on Saturday, April 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at West High School. In addition to displaying the Award recipients' art work, there will be hands-on activities of students of all ages, as well as, a free electronic recycling drive.