Chesterfield Observer Article About WES Green Club

The Chesterfield Observer has a nice article about local elementary schools' efforts to protect our environment. Many Chesterfield County schools are joining in the action. Here is what the article mentioned about Woolridge Elementary School. Click HERE to read the full article and learn about what's being done at other local elementary schools.

Woolridge Elementary
The “Go Green” initiative at Woolridge Elementary is beginning its third year. “Each classroom has recycling bins for paper and plastic, and we have a giant bin outside [the school] that is sponsored by the PTA,” said Raye McKissick, fourth-grade teacher and one of two teacher coordinators for the program.

Along with kindergarten teacher Debbie Pinkston and parents Kim Owens and Jay Yeman, McKissick keeps the various recycling efforts at Woolridge running smoothly. In addition to the paper and plastic recycling, they’ve overseen a catalog cancelling contest to see which class could get the most parents to give up their catalog subscriptions, and encouraged recycling at their fall festival pumpkin-lighting night. They’ve collected used-up glue sticks, which are sent to a recycling program sponsored by Walmart, and saved juice box pouches, which are sent to Terra Cycle, a recycler that pays the school for the pouches. They are selling reusable grocery bags that will benefit both the environment and the school.

Yeman developed a Web site, www.gogreenwoolridge.blogspot.com, that includes tips for recycling and other go-green ideas.

They also reward the kids for their recycling success. “We have a ‘Green Class of the Month,’ where we recognize the class that has the most [green] things going on, such as having green plants, turning off the lights, keeping their recycling bin full,” McKissick said. Art teacher Wendi Hobbie made a trophy that the winning class keeps for the month.