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UGDSB staff and students pledged to make a difference during the ECO Resolution Contest

February 20, 2019

GUELPH, Ontario – Earlier this year the Upper Grand District School Board participated in an ECO Resolution Contest lead by Environmental Lead Karen Acton.

The ECO Resolution Contest was designed to learn about what environmental issues are of concern to students and staff. Participants submitted a declaration to take action and make a positive impact on the planet.

According to Acton, “There were hundreds of amazing ECO Resolution submissions spanning the four categories: individual student, collaborative team effort, multimedia, and adults. The committee had a difficult time picking the winners from amongst all those who pledged to ‘take action’ on an amazing variety of vital environmental issues.”

EcoResolution_1st Prize Erin

First place in the Individual Student category was a tie. Freshta, a grade 7 student at Arbour Vista PS, and Maddie, a grade 9 student from Centre Wellington DHS, tied for 1st place. Freshta’s resolution is to plant a fruit and vegetable garden in the backyard. Freshta said, “It doesn’t seem like much but when you think about it, this would help with numerous things. It would reduce my use of plastic bags from grocery stores and it would give me food to eat while also giving a food source to pollinators.” Maddie pledged to start living with low or zero waste. Maddie said, “I am going to begin using biodegradable bamboo toothbrushes, use bars of soap, shampoo and conditioner instead of plastic bottles, make my own toothpaste, stop using plastic bags that stores provide and more!”

First place for a Collaborative Team Effort was awarded to Kindergarten and Grade 1 classes at Erin PS. These students are concerned about endangered animals. Students in this class got six stuffed animals, each representing an endangered species. The stuffed animal goes home with different students with a note asking parents/guardians to write down what they do at home to be eco conscious.

First place under the Multi Media category went to Parkinson Centennial PS. Parkinson Centennial PS submitted a video as a whole school to showcase how as a community, they foster caring Eco Citizens.

The fourth category was Adult; this prize went to the Terry James Resource Centre. TJRC indicated they would like to be the centre to recycle the waste PLA filament for everyone in the UGDSB community. They said, “3D printing is very popular in many of the schools. If a 3D print job fails due to the build not adhering to the platform, or the extruder does not ‘sense’ it has run out of filament, this results in wasted PLA filament. Our research has shown that PLA filament can be reused, and the recycled PLA results in better and stronger filament.”

Runner-ups included:

Congratulations to all winners, runner-ups and contest participants. Together we can make a difference.

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