Crossett Brook report: Sustainability projects abound

June 17, 2022  |  By Fisher Misenko, Nate Rundle, Issac Farr

Crossett Brook Middle School students attend a climate rally in Montpelier this spring. Photo courtesy of CBMS

Over the past six months, Wizard Team sixth-grade students at Crossett Brook Middle School worked hard on various projects around our school and community. Earlier this year, our teachers Melinda Anderman and Tiffany Michael partnered with the nonprofit organization Up For Learning to be a part of the Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability program. 

The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. UN graphic

Adults from Up for Learning first introduced us to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Global Goals. These goals are like the world’s to-do list and range from reducing hunger to building infrastructure to reducing inequality.

Next, they helped us determine an issue or problem in our school or community and then brainstorm ideas for cool projects that could be done at the middle-school level. Some of these projects included a Green Up Day competition, reducing plastic use at our school, increasing bathroom equality, and a food-drive competition.

Our group focused on the global goals Zero Hunger and No Poverty. 

Crossett Brook students visit the Waterbury Area Food Shelf with their donations. Photo courtesy of CBMS

We organized a school-wide competition to collect food for our local food shelf. We contacted the director of the food shelf and found out what the food shelf needed most. After that, we assigned point values to different items with the most needed items like coffee and shampoo having higher point values. Students competed to win the most points based on the items their class collected with the winners getting an ice-cream party. 

We set a goal of 600-800 items. After two weeks, we collected 1,313 items! All of the food was donated to the Waterbury Area Food Shelf.

Students presenting to Principal Tom Drake (right) and Food Service Director Erika Dolan to propose using biodegradable spoons at Crossett Brook Middle School. Courtesy photo

Meanwhile, the plastic spoon group was trying to remove plastic spoons from our school and replace them with metal spoons to help combat climate change. The global goals they focused on were Life on Land, Life Below Water, Climate Action, and Sustainable Cities and Developments. 

They took their idea to school leaders Principal Tom Drake and our head of food services, Erika Dolan. Initially they wanted to use compostable spoons, but after meeting with the adults they realized that using metal spoons was the better option. These students piloted a program to teach students to choose reusable spoons over plastic spoons.

Robin Weigand participates in the Wizard’s Green Up Day challenge. Courtesy photo

Another group focused on the global goals Climate Action, Life On Land, and Life Underwater. Their first idea was to clean up the rivers and streams around our campus. They had to completely pivot their project because there was not enough trash in the river to clean up. Instead, they created a sixth-grade competition to Green Up our community. 

People in sixth grade had a week to go around our community and collect trash. In total, people collected 21 bags of trash from our roads and parks. The winning group celebrated with a pizza party. 

The bathroom equality group project focused on getting the word out to staff and the principal for getting period supplies in the bathrooms for people who are hitting puberty. Their steps included meeting with the school Nurse Kathryn Saunders to determine how period products are funded and distributed. They sent out the survey to learn more about how periods impact students at Crossett Brook in terms of missed class time and ability to access period products at school. They made a slideshow to share with students at CBMS next fall with the goal of normalizing periods. They are now working on posters to put around the school to make people aware of their project to make gender equality in our bathrooms better in our school.

Another group of sixth graders raised money for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Vermont. Their goal was to raise money for refugees who came to Vermont with basically nothing and who need support. The global goals they focused on were No Poverty and Good Health and Well Being. 

This group ran into many challenges, for example after April break the committee no longer accepted anything but money, gift cards, and checks, so they had to change their entire project from a necessities drive to a bake sale in just a couple of days! In the end they raised $500 for refugees living in Vermont by organizing a bake sale held at our music concert at CBMS. 

A student bake sale in conjunction with a school concert raised $500 for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Vermont. Courtesy photo

Another group made a school website to make people aware of all 17 United Nations Global Goals. Their action step was to present at a staff meeting to make sure all staff know about and teach the global goals. The impact they were aiming for was to make a difference by educating people about the importance of global goals and how they could make a difference in our school and state, and possibly the country. They are hoping that their website will get teachers to the point where they are educating little and big kids – such as kids in elementary school all the way up to high school – to kids who don’t know much about the global goals.

Throughout this process, Wizard Team students learned many things. We learned about the global goals, how to decide what really needs to be done, and how to plan for making a change. Most of all, we learned that we can all make the world a better place.

This article was submitted by Crossett Brook Middle School teacher Melinda Anderman and was written by students Fisher Misenko, Nate Rundle and Issac Farr who are now headed to seventh grade.