College Grove Green Team Earns Recognition

Published December 1, 2016

More than ever, people are being encouraged to reduce, reuse and recycle. Nobody takes that to heart more than the green team at College Grove Elementary School.

Officially named the green team last year, students from College Grove have been collecting recyclables from around the school for several years.

“We basically go around the school and take all the recyclables they collected for the whole week,” said fourth-grader Mackenzie Ey. “Then we put them in the bins and sort them.”

On November 18, the students who make up the green team were recognized in front of the entire school during the All-Star Award announcements.

“We are proud of these students,” said principal Kathy Lillard. “They do an excellent job of making sure our recycling efforts are going well.”

Each Thursday, the team, which is made up of fourth and fifth graders, collects boxes of recyclable materials from each classroom as well as the cafeteria. It’s all part of the Williamson Recycles/Keep Williamson Beautiful Merit Program, which offers financial incentives to schools that recycle. To date, the College Grove green team has raised over $2,000 which has been used to start a garden and a composting system at the school.

“Recycling at our school is not new,” said green team sponsor Shelby Smith. “What is new is the magnitude we are attempting to take it. Our hope is to make a noticeable difference that our faculty, students and community can be proud of.”

All of the hard work put in by the students is the reason they received recognition from College Grove, and they hope it encourages others to recycle as well.

“It feels good because some people don’t like recycling and they don’t think it matters,” said Mackenzie. “When people actually get recognized for it, they know it actually means something.”