Clarke Central High School junior and Future Farmers of America member Ashleigh Cummings plants roses near the greenhouse on Sept. 26. Cummings believes that through the CCHS FFA chapter’s activities, many Green School Program policies are being put into place. “Basically, what (the FFA program) is trying to do is, we’re trying to implement Green School policies in Clarke Central,” Cummings said. “We’re trying to do more recycling, which I did last year. (It) didn’t work out, but we’re going to try again, and we’re just trying to be more eco-friendly.” Photo by Gretchen Hinger
The Clarke Central High School Future Farmers of America chapter is developing the Green School Program during the 2019-20 school year.
For the 2019-20 school year, Clarke Central High School will continue to grow the Green School Program, run by local environmentally-focused organizations.
“The Green School Program is designed to assist schools with environmental education and improvement efforts that focus on conservation, preservation, and beautification of our environment,” the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government website reads.
An infographic that shows what the Green School Program is and how schools and teachers can earn credits for their environmental activities. Clarke Central High School will be continuing its participation in the program for the 2019-20 school year.
According to CCHS Green School co-director and CCHS art teacher Amanda Price, CCHS has many activities put into place to fulfill the program’s needs.
“As a school, there’s a recycling initiative and that was helped out by some of (Future Farmers of America adviser Jillian Bryant’s) students. One of (the FFA members’) projects was focusing more on recycling, so we have classroom recycling bins,” Price said. “There are other teachers who have more environmental education lessons.”
FFA is a major part of the program at CCHS. For some members of the club, the importance of the Green School Program stems from negative environmental changes.
“We need to protect the planet because we don’t know what’s going to happen in the next 10 or 12 years, and it’s good that we start protecting the planet now and being more eco-friendly than when it’s too late,” CCHS junior and FFA member Ashleigh Cummings said.
During the 2018-19 school year, the CCHS FFA chapter has become involved with the program’s recycling initiative. This year, Cummings hopes for a more efficient version.
“(The FFA program) decided to (recycle) because it was part of our program of activities, which are our goals and things that we are going to do throughout the year. We also decided recycling would be a good way to help the environment,” Cummings said. “(Recycling) got to the point where it was a lot around the end of the year, but we want to try and do it in a more organized, efficient way starting this year.”
