March 6, 2008 – A new, student-run recycling club at Shaker Junior High School is not only saving trees, but also building awareness about the importance of recycling.

“If people don't start taking care now, they never will,” said eighth-grader Heather Moore, who joined the “Green Team” when it launched earlier this school year.

The club formed after a group of environmentally conscious junior high school students and teachers expressed their concern about the school’s non-existent recycling efforts.

“You should have seen how much paper was thrown out,” said team member Dan Cicchinelli.

Shaker Junior High School teachers Jessica Kuby, Sarah Strouse and Elizabeth Samuel took the initiative and met with Principal Dr. Russell Moore to launch the recycling club.

In October, the club was up and running with nearly 25 members.

Team members labeled and delivered blue recycling bins to all of the classrooms and offices in the building. They set up recycling bins, helped market the new program with flyers and posters and typed directions outlining the proper use of the bins (e.g., that they are not trash receptacles).
 

Team members take about five minutes during homeroom, twice a week, to collect recycling bins and dump their contents into larger containers for pick-up.

“There is a huge difference now that we started recycling,” said team member Ben Fuentes. "The bins are filled with papers.”

Now at the end of each semester, Fuentes said that he is able to recycle all of the paper he no longer needs.

“The students are working really hard,” said Kuby. “We are currently recycling 400 pounds of paper per week!”

So far this year, about 7,000 pounds of paper have been recycled.

“It's amazing to think that we used to just throw this amount of paper away,” said Principal Moore. "Major league kudos to all of the students involved, as well as the club advisors for making Shaker Junior High School a little ‘greener.’”