Panthers' Pride Reaches Out At PCPS

Feb 07, 2013

Prince Charles Public School in Verona recently extended its recycling program by reaching out to different community organizations as part of their Panthers' Pride and EcoSchool programs.

The Panthers’ Pride program aims to encourage students to take care of each other and others in the community and directly ties into the community outreach section of the Ontario EcoSchool program, which is now in its second year at the school.

For the first time at the school, students have begun collecting plastic milk bags, which are sent to church volunteers who crochet them into sleeping mats. The mats are then sent to a warehouse in Mississauga from where the organization Canadian Food for Children sends them out to various countries. Students are also collecting pop can tabs for various organizations, who use them to raise funds to buy wheelchairs and other products.

Used eye glasses, winter mittens and hats have also been collected for those who cannot afford them. Used batteries are also being collected and are sent through the Limestone District School board to area recycling depots.

Kevin Wenkoff, who teaches French at the school, has taken over the EcoSchool program at Prince Charles this year. The program awards points to participating schools in five different areas of achievement, which include teamwork and leadership, energy conservation, waste minimization, school grounds greening, and curriculum and environmental stewardship. Based on their achievements in each category the schools are then awarded points, and based on their score are given either a bronze, silver or gold rating.

This year Prince Charles’ grade 5/6 class French class is leading the school’s Eco team. Students are raising worms to be used for composting and there are also plans this year to continue greening up the school grounds. Students will be involved in a number of initiatives this spring, which will include extending a natural section of the playground in the back of the school, transplanting shades trees, and planting a variety of low maintenance vegetables in a garden plot. The program not only teaches students to care for the environment by reducing their material and energy consumption and reducing landfill waste, but also to care for others in the community by reaching out to those who might not be able to afford basic necessities.

“The community outreach part of Panthers’ Pride is an awareness program that invites the students to take action. It's symbolic of the greater need that people around the world have and it opens up the students’ eyes to those needs,” said Wenkoff.

The Eco team at the school will also be starting their boomerang lunches, which aim to minimize food and packaging waste in students’ lunches.

“The environmental issues of the program of course are huge”, said Wenkoff, “and while we are aiming to conserve energy and minimize waste, the ultimate goal here is to plant the seeds that enable the students to make choices in the future as they get older.”

Wenkoff has seen a difference in the students attitudes towards waste this year. “But really, what we have to keep in mind is that this is a long range project. Where at first I thought that we could make a huge impact on land fill, I now see that what we are making here at the school is a small impact. But we need to remember how that can snow ball into something bigger down the road as the students' imaginations run with it,” he said.

Olivia Minifie and Jack Revell, both grade 6 students at PCPS and part of the Eco team expressed their thoughts on the program.

“I like working with the worms,” Jack said. “The program is great because we are helping to keep the planet greener. We have a garden at our house and have worms and plant vegetables and my sister and I have been ones feeding the worms here at the school, which has been really fun.”

Asked what the program has taught her, Olivia said, “I've learned a lot about recycling and never knew before that milk bags could be used to make sleeping mats.” Both students said that they hope this year to earn a gold certificate in the EcoSchool program at PCPS.