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NWP Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists - East Paulding, Dallas, GA, USA

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East Paulding, Dallas, GA, USA
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JayO24



Registered: September 2020
City/Town/Province: Dallas
Posts: 1
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When I was 14, I volunteered for the Humane Society for 3 months every Saturday. When I was 13 years old, I found myself adopting an elephant from the World Wildlife Foundation. I named him Simba. The World Wildlife Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to our planet. When I was 11, I joined the garden club because I wanted to beautify the school. When I was 5, I bought a limited time stuffed jaguar from Build -A- Bear as part of their promotion to save the endangered species. For as long as I can remember, I have always been concerned with nature and wildlife. I have always seen the impact of human life on the earth, like the rapid deforestation of the Amazons and the horrors of the Ivory Trade and felt the need to make a positive change. I have always understood the idea of leaving the earth better than you found it and I have made that my life's mission. I hope to one day be an environmental lawyer who advocates for green sustainability polices.
I attended East Paulding High School in Dallas, GA. In my freshman year, I had this friend who would bring a new Gatorade bottle to school every day. And Every day she would throw that plastic bottle away in the trash. I then, would insist that she no longer do that and wait until she got home to throw it away properly in the recycling bin. She explained that she does not have a recycling bin in her house, but if the school had recycling bins, she would gladly place it in there. That would the moment I realized I could make a difference for my school. I began planning a recycling program for my school at the end of my freshman year. During the summer, I started emailing my principle and the school's trash disposal company. The moment school started; I already had scheduled meetings with the county's environment director- I did not want to waste any time.
I would say the hardest part about starting the recycling program at my school was finding a disposal company to take it. My school's trash collection company did offer recycling but due to the company's economic issues, the recycling fee increased by 150%! My club partner and I held a fundraiser at my School's version of "Trunk or Treat"; we also sold environmentally friendly bracelets. We did make enough money to buy the recycling bins but not nearly enough to cover the company's cost. Not having a waster collector did slow us done but it did not stop us! Our only problem was waster distribution; instead of paying a company to collect the recycling, we took it ourselves. 6-8 teachers, my partner, and myself volunteered to take the trash. We had a system in which someone would take the trash to the waste center that was only 15 minutes away from our school once a week, then that said someone would not have to do it for another month. Once we had our waster collectors the recycling began!
My hope for the program is to continue to grow within my school and within my county. My school is the first school in my county to have a recycling program, and I plan to create more in the other high schools around the county as well. With the support of my teachers and student government association, I have been able to give my school an environmentally conscience outlet for their waste. I poster the benefits of recycling throughout my school to educate my peers and show them the importance of thinking about our environment. The Apprentice Ecologist program has taught me to believe in doing something bigger than myself for the betterment of the world. I would see media showing animals that have died from plastic waste, and trees that are cut down to make space for another office and I would empathize with our environment. It hurt me to see the beauty of nature be choked; I felt moved to do something about it.
· Date: September 6, 2020 · Views: 2584 · File size: 12.1kb, 882.8kb · : 3264 x 1592 ·
Hours Volunteered: 35
Volunteers: 7
Authors Age & Age Range of Volunteers: 16 & 15-38
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