Bank donates $35,000 for school environmental programs

Monday June 11, 2007
By Jennifer Huberdeau, the North Adams Transcript

NORTH ADAMS - Composting, recycling and measuring a building's energy waste aren't usually included in the daily curriculum of local schools — if they appear at all, it's as a footnote. But that's about to change for three Berkshire County schools, thanks to a $35,000 grant from Berkshire Bank.

The funds will allow a new environmental-science program to be piloted this fall at Silvio O. Conte Middle School here, Lanesborough Elementary School and Muddy Brook Elementary School in Great Barrington.

"We find that children are our best teachers," Nancy Nylen, associate director of the Center for Ecological Technology, which is the leading partner in the initiative, said in announcing the grant Thursday in Lanesborough. "We're hoping that the things the children learn will transfer into the home and into the community."

The funding establishes what will be known as The Berkshire Bank's Berkshire Environmental School Teams (BEST) project.

"It's mostly an approach of outreach in the schools," Cynthia Grippaldi, CET waste management and energy specialist, said. "It's interesting, because a year ago, teachers and school principals began approaching with their frustrations that environmental education did not have a place in the curriculum — and if it did, it was an aside to another lesson. They were coming to us to help develop a curriculum."

Indivdualized programs

Grippaldi said the funding will allow the CET to work with each individual school on tailoring a program to its needs.

"Some of the schools are fairly new, so they might focus on things like waste reduction," she said. "Other schools, like Conte, are much older. The students might look at ways of making the school more energy efficient, the cost benefits of efficiency and do an energy audit. The schools might even look at the prospect of renewable energy resources."

She said the CET will work with seventh- and eighth-graders specifically at the middle school. Nylen said the schools will participate in an environmental fair at the end of the year.

"We'll bring the schools together to let the community see what has been accomplished," she said.

In addition to creating lesson plans that meet the standards of the state curriculum guidelines, the funding will cover the tuition of a week-long intensive course for the participating teachers at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. The three-credit graduate-level course will be offered free at the end of June.

"We play a small role in this, but it is an important one," Adrienne Wooters, a physics professor at the college said.

Three-year commitment

The course, which will be taught by Wooters, a member of the college's biology department and a CET member, will focus on topics such as climate change, eco-systems, energy efficiency, how big a windmill has to be and projects that can be used in the classroom.

"It will give content to the lesson plans," Wooters said. "This is what the Berkshire Compact for Higher Education is all about — schools, a college and a local business all working together. We are just thrilled to be part of this."

The BEST program requires a three-year commitment from each participating school. Grippaldi said the CET hopes to include three additional schools each year the program is running.

"We think this program really has a potential to grow," she said. "We want to come out of this with a number of lesson plans that can be used in schools throughout Berkshire County."