South Florida elementary’s hands-on lessons turns students into eco-heroes
Students at Twin Lakes Elementary are doing their part to protect our planet in partnership with the Dream in Green organization.
By Lissette Gonzalez
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HIALEAH, Florida (WFOR) — A Hialeah elementary school is going above and beyond to protect the environment.
“It is important to take care of our planet, because if we don’t, who will?,” student Aria Chorens said.
Students at Twin Lakes Elementary are doing their part to protect our planet in partnership with the Dream in Green organization.
“The Green Schools Challenge program is a whole system approach to environmental education in which we have hands-on lessons and activities for Pre-K through 12th grade schools to implement the talk about energy efficiency, water conservation and how to preserve natural resources” Barbara Martinez-Guerrero, executive director of Dream in Green, said.
Students up for Earth Week challenges Twin Lakes Elementary Garden Club and Environmental Club teacher Alena Sheriff is passionate about the environment. Sheriff helped create the first food forest in Miami-Dade at Twin Lakes with the support of the Education Fund. She teaches lessons provided by Dream in Green.
“The Earth Week Challenge is something that is amazing because it teaches students to go meatless, it also encourages them to take a bike to school, reduce emissions by not coming to school in a car, bike or walk. On water days, they can conserve water at home. They can have a voice and they have civic responsibility. All these activities they do, it helps to bring awareness to what we do to protect the Earth. They take that awareness back home and they spread it in their communities,” Sheriff said.
Learning important life lessons Students also learn how to reduce waste and their carbon footprint by recycling, composting and doing vermiculture with a worm farm.
“I love going to the garden and figuring out new plants. And I love how if there’s any trash on the ground then I can reuse, recycle and compost,” student Mya Rueda said.
“The compost helps our environment by not sending things to the landfill. Because the landfill causes pollution and it makes us really not as well,” student Junior Lopez said.
“So worms are used for composting. Let’s say I eat a banana instead of throwing it in the trash, in the landfill. I put it inside the worm bin which is on the worm farm. The reason I enjoyed being here is the worm farm and I like that while we are having fun, we are improving our garden and helping the environment, ” student Noah Perez said.
“These kids are the future. If we don’t instill the importance of what Earth Week is, how to protect the environment, somebody has to and it starts here,” Sheriff said.
Sheriff and her students at Twin Lakes Elementary are considered eco-heroes. The students are learning life-long lessons about taking care of the Earth and are spreading that knowledge in the community. That is the mission of Dream in Green – to empower students to become environmental stewards for our planet.
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