Every Thursday during fourth block, a group of students pushes a large recycling bin through the halls of SHS, stopping at classrooms to collect recyclables.
While this may seem like a routine task, there is a deeper purpose behind it. The students pushing the recycling bin each week aren’t just tidying up. They’re gaining valuable experience and making an impact on the school.
These students are part of the English Learner (EL) work-based learning class, which helps students who are learning English as a second language gain career experience and develop employability skills.
“I am in charge of what’s called workbased learning for our EL students, and it was an easy project for us to take over,” EL teacher Amy Peddie said.
In previous years, SHS used to have a club called Green Earth Society, in which students would go around after school and pick up recycling from teachers’ rooms. However, after the club’s disbandment two years ago, the work-based learning class took over the job.
Although this project was abandoned by Green Earth Society, this isn’t a completely new initiative for the work-based learning class. Peddie says that she has incorporated recycling into this class for a while.
“Two years ago, we decided to make (recycling) part of the work-based learning experience, so once a week the students go around and collect the recycling from teachers’ classrooms,” Peddie said.
Though this program often goes unnoticed, its impact is clear in helping to keep SHS cleaner while giving EL students a hands-on role in school operations.
Currently, the program is limited to EL students as part of their work-based learning class,
“There is not really an opportunity for other people to join because it’s done during the day and during class,” Peddie said.
The overall goal is for EL students to be able to see what working in the real world looks like while in school.
EL students are learning real world applications while helping out within the community of SHS.
“But the whole goal of it is much like our other work-based learning classes,” Assistant Principal Joe Horvath said, “where you’re trying to get them credit for working and getting them out in the community.”
These students play a key role in keeping the school greener, ensuring that recycling efforts continue. Their contributions may go unnoticed, but they make a meaningful impact on the school’s sustainability.
