MHS Student Making a Green Difference

MHS senior Lexie Raczka's passion was sparked in the 7th grade as a student at Qualters Middle School. Her science teacher, Mrs. Meredith Azevedo, had been teaching a unit on alternative fuels. She involved Lexie and the other students with a unique project her husband, Keith Azevedo, a MHS environmental studies teacher, had been developing: a "bio bus" that ran on biodiesel and vegetable oil. This meaningful, project-based learning caused Lexie to reflect on her own lifestyle and consumption. "I converted my whole life to become more green. I became more mindful about waste. I became completely vegetarian, eating organic foods. I got my family to start using green, non-toxic cleaning products," she recalls.

During Lexie's sophomore year her mother Mary had a chance meeting with Robin Organ, the executive director and founder of Green Schools. Green Schools is a non-profit organization with a membership of over 100 schools throughout Massachusetts and New England. Green School's mission is to create healthier and greener learning environments through education and awareness. Robin, a Mansfield resident, invited Lexie to be part of the Green Schools Student Ambassador Program, a network of 35 middle and high school students who have the opportunity to work on innovative projects to make their schools healthier through environmental community service. This year Lexie has served as co-president of the ambassador group. In this capacity, much of her time is being spent planning for the Annual Green Schools Summit on April 29. This year's summit, which will be here at Mansfield High School, will feature Governor Deval Patrick as a keynote speaker.

As the MHS Senior Project must involve a "learning stretch" and encompass rigorous research in a field of interest, Lexie's senior project is a fascinating one. Her essential questions are the following: What is the annual carbon footprint of MHS? And what can all of us do to reduce it? (As a side note, Lexie has to date calculated MHS' annual footprint to be 492 tons of emitted carbon- not including student transportation. This translates to the mass of 107 average size elephants!) As part of the project, Lexie has been and will be showing all members of our school community cost-free and cost-effective ways how they can reduce the carbon footprint. As she notes, "I want people to accept that it doesn't cost a lot of money to go green. Even something simple like using a reusable water bottle can save the landfill space. Every little bit counts."

With that can-do attitude and commitment, Lexie will be presenting the Green Schools latest project to the Mansfield School Committee this Tuesday night. The group is proposing that a greenhouse be constructed on the MHS grounds. Procured through fundraising and Rep. Jay Barrows' Together We Can organization, the greenhouse will be integrated with both the wellness/nutrition and environmental studies curriculum.

One person can make a difference.... and Lexie is the epitome of that special student with intelligence, drive, and passion that can make a difference in a school. That's why it is so fitting that she was honored at the State House yesterday for her fine work with the Green Schools Student Ambassador Program. I know she will continue to make the difference this fall when she enrolls as a freshman at Dickinson College as an environmental studies major.

Congratulations, Lexie.... and keep up the fine work!

Green Roof?? A Great Start!

When students returned to MHS this past week they noticed something new when they used the stairwell on the far end of the building near the modular classrooms. It looked like this:What they noticed was the fruition of the senior project of recent alum Kjirsten Seiler, '10. During last school year Kjirsten researched the topic of the green roof, a roof (or a portion of a roof) that is covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. This type of roof has become more popular in the past 5-10 years, particularly in new urban construction. Its benefits include providing insulation, absorbing rainwater, reducing heat loss and energy consumption, and filtering out pollutants and carbon dioxide of the air.

While the scope of this project was small (only a portion of the roof to the modular wing was done), Kjirsten planned everything and constructed it over the summer with the help of some MHS friends. This includes the frame, the membrane, the drainage system, the medium, and plants. Interestingly enough, Kjirsten used a product known as GaiaSoil as the growing medium. This "soil" is an ultra-light, recycled foam that is enriched with nutrients so vegetation may grow. She also planted very low maintenance, ground cover plants such as sedum album and sedum pachycladus, ones that should flower in the spring.

With an increased emphasis on schools to be "green," this addition certainly is a timely one. More importantly, it was the culmination of one student's project-based learning. This topic is clearly one that Kjirsten is passionate about, so much so that she would like students from successive classes to continue the project, building their own sections. Perhaps that vision may be realized...

Many thanks also to MPS Director of Buildings & Grounds Walter Parker for his help with this project!

Making Senior Year More Meaningful

When the US Department of Education's National Commission on the High School Senior Year delivered a comprehensive report entitled "Raising Our Sights" in 2001, one of the key recommendations was for schools to "require performance-based assessments such as portfolios for seniors to showcase their best accumulated work... and senior projects where students may demonstrate their capabilities for research, creative thinking, rigorous analysis, and clear written and oral communication." It is with this vision that thousands of high schools nationwide have implemented a senior project program. We too have begun the journey at MHS.

Thirty-eight members of the class of 2010 recently completed this year-long independent project, which culminated on May 14 with oral presentations on their research to panels of faculty members, parents, and community members. During their presentations, each student gave an overview of their study area and also talked about their specific research in the field. Throughout the school year, each student had to identify a mentor who is an expert in their chosen field of study, conduct at least 15 hours of fieldwork, reflect in writing upon their experiences, and submit a research paper on the topics. All experiences are also documented by the students through the use of an online electronic portfolio where artifacts of their learning are uploaded and assessed.

The student topics were diverse and interesting. From topics ranging from the feasibility of starting a ski and snowboard apparel business in light of an economic recession to the influence of intellectual property on the medical field, all projects had one thing in common: they were selected by the students based upon what they have a passion for learning.

Many thanks to MHS Senior Project coordinators Bill Deasy and Ben Caisse for their hard work and facilitation throughout the year. Great work!

Pictures:

Above: Chaelyn Saunders presents on the physics of dance and her work with choreography.

Below: Greg O'Brien presents on his work on creating and patenting an experimental medical device; Ali Dorval presents on her topic of increasing AIDS awareness among teenagers through conducting a charity community event.