Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

I have started a recycling program in my high school. In every room and the office there is a green bin that says recycling on it and the students and teachers know it is only for paper. Then, the AP Physics students which is about twenty students pick up all the bins every Monday morning. Then we put the paper into recycled garbage bags and load them into the truck after school and take them to a recycling paper place in Washington. At the paper recycling place handicapped students work there and separate the different kinds of papers. The high school recycling team has a special award for the most paper recycled. It is great to see students and faculty members bring newspapers and papers from their house to be recycled.
Every Monday we usually get about two trucks full of paper. Now I am working to start a paper recycling in the middle and elementary schools. Also, I am meeting with the school board to get permission to start a plastic and aluminum recycling program in the school. To start a recycling program in my school I had to receive permission from the principal and then from the school board. I then had to find a teacher that would sponsor us. I then had the physics teacher sponsor the program. I started this project last year and this year I am the captain of the recycling team.
I think it is important to take care of our environment because the environment keeps us healthy and living. There are always trees being logged to make paper, or to build, and also to use as heat. I then saw how much paper was being thrown away in the school and knew we could recycle it and then started to receive permission to start a recycling program in the school. I think it is important to recycle paper because the paper comes from trees and if we recycle fewer trees will have to be logged for paper. Paper recycling can help the environment because fewer trees will be cut down.
This project has helped me to see how recycling can help the environment. This year I am trying hard to start a recycling program in the elementary and middle school. Also, to start a plastic and aluminum recycling especially during lunch with the plastic bottles of water and the pop cans. I have also started a highway cleanup project in the community with the leoClub. Three times during the school year we clean up in the community and we recycle the plastic bottles and aluminum cans we find when cleaning.
Starting a paper recycling program in my high school has been very successful. It is great when we can get about 75 to 100 bags of paper every week when there are only about 450 students in the high school. Also, it is great that the AP Physics students enjoy recycling every Monday and staying after school to help load the trucks. I have had many underclassmen ask me how they can help with the program and how they can help after I graduate. It is great when the underclassman tell me they are excited to help out next year, therefore, I know the program will keep going even after I graduate.
The recycling program is only one of the many community projects I have started in my high school and am a part of. I will have over 1,200 hours of community service when I graduate high school. Volunteering with the many different activities such as recycling and highway clean ups has taught me how I can help change the world and that every little thing makes a difference to help clean up our world.