In 2012, the SCH Academy lower school for girls identified a problem: food waste and recyclables were too often getting tossed into the large grey trash bins in the cafeteria instead of being thoughtfully separated into the compost bucket and blue recycling bins. With support from the science teachers and faculty sustainability committee, the 2nd and 3rd grade students began a “design thinking” process to identify the specific problems with cafeteria waste and to brainstorm solutions.
AFS Students Make a Difference with Non Profit Neighbors
Students will remember Abington Friends as a school where “place-based” education wasn’t just theory. Place-based education binds organizations and schools to collaborate on local causes. Over the years, AFS students worked with neighboring non-profits to become community stewards. Lower school science teacher, Rosanne Mistretta, stands at the hub of the school’s community partnerships. Walk into her classroom and you will see structures made from twigs and seeds when students built fairy houses, observational drawings and photos when they planted trees along a stream, and germinating seeds to be used by a local farm. All of these exemplify work students have done with community partners.
