allison0513
Registered: December 2022 City/Town/Province: Galveston Posts: 1
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During my senior year of high school, I completed my Girl Scouts Gold Award. I grew up in a small mountain town in Colorado and was raised by environmental scientists, so the environment has always been a major part of my life. I knew I would major in Environmental Science in college and hopefully get my Ph.D. in it one day. When I decided to complete my Gold Award, I knew I had to do something for the environment. Halfway through high school, I moved to a small island off the coast of Texas. This island has incredibly vulnerable ecosystems that have historically been unprotected. I participate in beach cleanups and wetland protection groups, but the island does not have a robust recycling program. Homes and schools on the island have to collect their recycling and transport it themselves to a recycling center. While this is better than nothing, this system does not offer much motivation to locals to recycle.
For my project, I decided to implement a recycling program in a school. There had not previously been a recycling program in this school, and so most of the recyclable paper went into the trash every day. A majority of the students at this school are from low income households and many of these kids had never heard of recycling because they had never been given the resources to learn and participate in it. My project was a success not only for the environment, but because it educated these students that they can have a positive impact on the environment.
My project was very successful. I was able to educate students on the importance of recycling and also able to help the earth one piece of paper at a time. I have estimated that over 500 pounds of paper have been recycled through this project. Part of this project allowed students in the school to participate in the process by collecting the recycling from individual classrooms. The students had to sort through the recycled goods and determine what could be suitable for recycling. These students were able to learn about the importance of helping their local communities and the impact they can have on the environment. Many people do not believe recycling does anything for the environment in the long run. They believe that the impact of recycling is small and does not have a major impact on the environment. The students of this school saw that the amount of paper that was recycled in just four months had a major impact on the environment around them. I was able to see my project have an impact on their lives because many of them did not think they had any significance in the world, but my project showed them they were able to make an impact on the planet.
My project also had a major impact on me. I saw so much personal growth in myself from this project. I saw myself become more confident in my ideas and goals. I learned how to deal with conflicts and how to overcome issues in the face of adversity. I was able to come up with an idea, put it into motion, and make a major impact on my community and the people in it. This project has led me to the decision in my future that I want to help the conservation of the environment and educate others on how they can make a positive impact on the world. This project is really important to me because even though I had so much going on in my senior year with my dual-credit classes, full-time job, varsity sports, and other extracurriculars, I was still able to make time to make a positive impact in my community and the people in it.
I implemented a recycling program in a school and have recycled 500 pounds of paper. My local community has incredibly complex and diverse ecosystems that are vulnerable to pollution and the effects of climate change. I decided to create a project that combated this issue and teach local students the positive impact they can make on the environment. I have taken the initiative on helping my local community become more ecologically healthy. By keeping recyclable paper out of the vulnerable ecosystems around my community and teaching at-risk and disadvantaged youth the positive impact they can have on the environment, I have made an impact on my community.
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