Afterschool at Del Prado Elementary School

Our youth group consisted of twenty-one third, fourth, and fifth graders at Del Prado Elementary. All of our kids going into the program were already very environmentally conscious and aware of many issues in their community and school. However, as we began to examine their school, they realized that much could be improved. We started off by educating our kids on each of the four suggested project areas: Energy, Waste/Recycling, School Grounds, and School Transportation. After dot-voting it became overwhelmingly clear that the students were angry about the state of their nature trail and wanted to fix it, as the School Grounds category was the clear winner. When everyone began looking into the history of the nature trail at Del Prado, we discovered that there had been nature trail cleanups, but it was neglected over the past 5 years due to hurricanes and lack of enthusiasm. There also had been many attempts to start something like the Earth Force Club to clean up the trail, but nothing was accomplished. We also discovered that there was an unused wetland area that was neglected which could be valuable to both students and teachers. The Earth Force Club then made it their mission to reduce the amount of trash on the nature trail, increase the use of the trail by students and teachers, and restore the wetland area out on the trail for student use.

The Earth Force Club’s project of restoring the wetland and cleaning the nature trail served the entire Del Prado community, along with many different sub-groups. In addition to just the whole Del Prado community, the students have been the direct beneficiaries, as they can spend their free time out on the trail. Teachers also gained, as they now can use the restored nature trail as an extension of their classroom. The project in all positively impacted over 1,000 students at Del Prado Elementary.

Sustainability was an important aspect that our kids had to consider. The kids encountered the problem of wanting to accomplish many things that were not feasible within the given time period, so we spent time with them developing a plan for future years. In this way, what we really wanted to accomplish could be certainly done in the near future. The club spent time networking around Del Prado to develop ideas. The kids wanted to have a major nature trail clean up with Ms. Root, but the teacher’s committee would not have a meeting until late April, where we all discussed with them possibilities for future years instead of focusing on the already completed semester. Since we were not able to have a major clean up, we held many mini ones with our group and other kids within the after-care program, and worked with Ms. Root to establish a definite one for next year, which will be occurring in late September/ early October. This event next year will become a permanent annual event, and will include planting some gorgeous donated native plants along the trail, pulling weeds, picking up trash, and refreshments. The kids wanted somehow to restore the wetland area so it could be used this year, but it was a huge task to undertake in the time span. We all worked with the school to get a definite plan for next year that the newly established Nature Club (what the Earth Force Club will become when we leave) and school teachers would work on. This wetland restoration will include donated plants from Home Depot and help from children’s’ parents. The students in Earth Force Club also really wanted their teachers to be able to take them out onto the trail during class and have class outside, so we developed curriculum with the teachers that they will be able to use on the nature trail. The teachers will be encouraged to use the trail as often as possible, and many teachers are very eager to hold lessons out there, and even do some Project WILD activities. The Nature Club next year will be putting out trash receptacles on the trail to prevent litter and the janitorial staff will collect from these occasionally. Another sustainable aspect of the children’s project is how teachers next year will be “adopting the trail,” where their classes are responsible for keeping certain parts of the trail clean. Many are excited to preserve its beauty. All of the returning Earth Force Club kids plan on being in the Nature Club next year to continue their trash talking.