Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

Growing up on the coast of South Carolina, I was raised in the outdoors. I was taught to value the beautiful environment that I spent my childhood playing in, all the while respecting plants and animals alike, knowing I was responsible for my actions in respect to their wellbeing as well as mine. My backyard was never complete without a summer garden where I discovered I had been born with two green thumbs. It wouldn't take a genius to know I was intertwined with Mother Nature. Long before anyone could see, I felt called to be her hands, feet, and tongue. My youth was spent in the dirt and as sixth grader, I ran my campaign for class president on the promise to clean and renovate the dilapidated greenhouse my school had been neglecting for years. Long story short, I was that kid. And no, it was not a phase. I chose to do the Apprentice Ecologist project on behalf of the Nicodemus Wilderness Project because I thought it would be fun! I enjoy participating and directing projects that benefit the local environment so when I learned of a scholarship opportunity doing so, I knew it was right up my alley.
I conducted my project in my program high school, The Academy for the Arts, Science, and Technology in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We are a STEM School and I have been a student in the STEM program since my admission in ninth grade. The school district to which it belongs, Horry County Schools, has recently implemented composting into several elementary schools and it benefited the community immensely. My Biology II class, in fact, used the compost to plant nearly a thousand plants to sell for our school's National Science Honors Society in early 2017, as well as using it for numerous experiments in that class. This is only one example of the positive results that composting has benefited us with. Hearing of such great results in the elementary schools, I was eager to implement the same composting system into my school. After communicating with my county's sustainability analyst, He began making weekly visits to our school's recycling club, Treehuggers which I am senior ambassador of. He discussed with me how we would delegate tasks in order to make sure the project would go smoothly and the steps we needed to take to educate my school. We made posters, educational videos, and I was even Queen Compost of AAST for the purpose of a PSA and the grand opening day for the composting bins. We also completed a waste audit, collecting an entire days trash school wide, ripping open every trash bag and dumping every bin, sorting compostable materials, recyclables, and landfill trash and weighing them. The local news came to our school to cover this waste audit and I had the pleasure of answering their questions on the how and why of our efforts. After getting a clear view of the recycling situation our school was in, we knew we had some work to do, but the goal was clear within reach. The implementation is still a work-in-progress but we have already taught my school a great deal about how to recycle and why we do so. I have learned myself, as the waste audit opened my eyes to the reality of what we are sending to the landfills on a daily basis as well as how little the average student knows about how to recycle. Recycling can be confusing as no two materials are alike, and sometimes a clear yes or no is not always possible. For this reason, Treehuggers and AAST continue to help each and every student feel confident in their ability to decipher and educate others as well to promote a sustainable tomorrow.
It is important to take care of our schools for the first and foremost reason that we are the future of the United States, and the world at large. At this age, we are still open to new ideas and our habits are more malleable than later in life. Without environmental education in our young people, they progress into adults that lack this knowledge, and we all are aware few adults seek out this kind of information on their own. Not only will they affect themselves, but they are more likely to lead others by example and implement environmentally friendly projects in their careers, once they realize the weight of their footprint. It's also very important that we implement more rigorous composting and recycling programs in schools because of the sheer volume of waste. With hundreds, thousands of people filling a single school every day, that's an exponential amount of waste, most of which is going directly to the landfill without a single thought. Places like schools are such great opportunities to make a huge cut to landfill waste by simply educating and implementing such projects. It is extremely surprising just how little of what we throw away must go to the landfill. The majority of school waste is entirely recyclable or even compostable, much more favorable alternatives to the landfill. However, my project was not solely directed toward how to sort trash but also emphasized the ideal of little to no waste to begin with. Posters and videos I created encouraged the usage of reusable containers and becoming more conscious of the amount of waste you produce on a daily basis, all in an effort to lessen your overall waste, even if it was technically recyclable.
This project has boosted my morale for sparking change, large and small scale alike. With such a large project under my belt, I feel empowered to keep my momentum strong. Being a leader of a group effort of this scale has given me the confidence that will help me start new projects. I have learned that projects of this nature require immense teamwork, utilizing everyone's gifts and talents to maximize the benefits of the outcome. Without being part of this I would not be as experienced as I am and may not feel prepared to tackle future projects or environmental issues head on as they arise in my community. Since then, I have learned that once I graduate from school, I would love to dedicate my career to environmental education or policy. While I'm not sure of my path, I know my life will include helping communities and individuals better their lives while minimizing their impact on the environment.