This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Green Elementary Students Turn Trash to Treasure

Recycling project teaches Green Elementary students responsibility and beautifies school grounds.

students transformed thousands of collected plastic lids into colorful art to decorate school grounds.

“We were trying to think of something the whole school could participate in,” said Green Elementary School Principal Eileen Hielscher, who found directions for the project while browsing through art books.

The recycling art project, which involved all the school's teachers, fell in line with a L'Anse Creuse Public Schools district-wide green initiative.

Find out what's happening in New Baltimore-Chesterfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

'They were so cool'

For one month, students scoured Chesterfield Township for lids of all sizes before sorting them by color. Next, parents and teachers helped students cut plywood into animal- and flower-shaped pieces, which students painted and decorated with their lids. After every class created one shape, parents returned to help fasten the lids.

Find out what's happening in New Baltimore-Chesterfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Students were welcomed by finished art pieces the next morning that parents had mounted outside the night before.

“They were so cool to see when we got off the bus," said third-grader Erin White. "It was great to see what we could do with all the lids we collected."

Erin is in Robin Ruzicska’s class, also known as the Recycling Warriors.

“They’re all quite proud of the projects,” Hielscher said about her students. “This would have been a lot of garbage but we did something nice with it.”

Green Elementary students have finished about 30 art projects while participating in the Michigan Green Schools program for the second consecutive year.

“It’s important to us to make these kids responsible citizens,” Hielscher said. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?