Environmental Student Action Challenge

Students at École Percy Pegler School have noticed a lack of biodiversity in their schoolyard and want to create a welcoming space for native animals and for themselves. Through the Student Action challenge, students will be creating a small forest ecosystem. With the support of the town’s urban forester, students will be planting and caring for trees. These trees will serve as a starting point for student inquiry and learning around the importance of forests in Alberta.

Students at New Myrnam School want to reduce the substantial carbon footprint created by families in their community constantly driving back and forth to the grocery store in a nearby town. Through this Student Action Challenge project, they will be building a new hydroponics system so they can grow their own produce at the school. To understand the impact that they have, they will calculate the carbon footprint of buying food from the grocery store versus the food grown through their system and share their knowledge with community members.

Grade four students at Aurora Elementary School want to leave an environmental legacy for future students by planting and carefully caring for a Peace Tree in a nearby park. Students will learn about the positive environmental impact of their tree as it grows, measuring the amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs and the animal life that it supports. Over the years, these students hope that future grade four students will continue planting a tree each year, resulting in a small forest. This Student Action Challenge project demonstrates that small actions can have a big impact.

Students at Edmonton Christian Northeast School have spent a lot of time in their outdoor classroom over the past few years, but the cold Alberta winters drive them back indoors for much of the year. To help them spend time outside year round, they will be building an outdoor fire pit, learning winter survival and environmental issues that directly affect them, their school, and their community.

High school students in Sherwood Park are working on their green thumbs this year by creating a garden full of native plants. They will be re-purposing part of their outdoor classroom to integrate Alberta perennials, creating a space that not only benefits the students but also increases the biodiversity and resilience of the local ecosystem. All of the students at the school will benefit, from biology students who will take clippings from the plants to examine under a microscope to those who simply visit the space and reap the mental health benefits of nature.

Ralston School students are going to be reducing their carbon footprint this year by focusing on local food production. They will learn about the carbon footprint of food and create a greenhouse to grow their own vegetables for their foods program. This Student Action Challenge project involves the whole school, with older students designing and building the greenhouse and younger students growing seedlings. The whole student body will benefit from the local food produced.

Reconciliation and Indigenous ways of knowing are key considerations in this year’s Student Action Challenge project at Riverside School. Grade four students will be working with the Calgary Board of Education Council of Elders and Indigenous Education Team to integrate traditional ways of knowing into their science class. For their project, they will be growing native shrubs and grasses in their school yard, not only supporting their science education but also increasing native plant habitat and biodiversity in their schoolyard.

Grade three students at C. Ian McLaren School are getting their hands dirty growing food while conserving energy this year. As part of a larger Sustainability Project, they’ll be creating an indoor greenhouse to grow starter plants for their neighboring high school’s Agricultural Program. Last year, students at Oilfields High School built an outdoor garden with funding from the Student Action Challenge. This year, elementary school students at C. Ian McLaren will germinate seedlings, tracking water and electricity costs as they go. Once the plants are large enough, the students will deliver the plants to the Oilfields High School’s Agricultural Program students. Talk about food for thought!

Gardens galore! Students at Lacombe Composite High School are taking their existing outdoor learning space one step further by integrating signage to educate others about the species and importance of the native plants they’ve grown. They will be partnering with local experts, including Elders, to learn more about the environmental benefits and ecosystem services that these plants offer.

The Eco-Leaders at Hillhurst School have had enough of plastic pollution. After learning about the importance of wetlands, they are determined to clean up their local waterways. Students have designed robots to help them remove plastic waste from the water. By measuring the amount of waste they remove, they’ll develop an understanding of not only the difference they can have on their local environment but also the extent of the problem that they’re determined to solve.