Environmental

Have Fun Making Our School More Beautiful

It’s easy. Just sign up for a garden and, if you want, get friends, family, a class, or a group of students together to design a garden from scratch, add plants to an existing garden, or maintain an existing garden. There is no minimum amount of work required, though we hope people will commit to a school year. You may do as little or as much as you like.

Contact Environmental Chair, Ashley Woodson, to find out which areas are still available to adopt: 440-0066 or lisa@nybeck.net.

BHE is Winner in Longhorn Recycle Roundup 2010!

Keep Austin Beautiful awarded our school for its outstanding recycling, conservation, and beautification initiatives.  Winning schools receive $500 to improve their campus environmental efforts and were recognized on the field at the Texas vs. Florida Atlantic Game on November 20th.  Our application included these highlights:

  1. weekly litter pick-up on campus,
  2. recycling of paper, cardboard and aluminum,
  3. bi-annual Landscaping Days, an Adopt-A-Garden program, and a vegetable garden,
  4. the 6th graders’ wildflower legacy gift,
  5. other recent accomplishments (25 native trees, crushed granite walkways, butterfly garden, peace garden, and many native gardens), and
  6. the composting program in the lunchroom where ALL food and paper are composted.

Thanks to the entire Barton Hills Elementary community for your efforts!  See http://www.keepaustinbeautiful.org/LRR2010Winners for more information.

Organic Vegetable Garden

You may want to help with our new Organic Veggie Garden and help get the kids involved!  Last year we were able to donate spinach, lettuce and cilantro to the Capital Area Food Bank.

About Our Composting Program…

We are prooud of our new composting program!  The pilot began on Monday, April 12th, 2010.  Children in the cafeteria now put ALL organic material into specially-marked buckets.  The only things that cannot be composted are metals, glasses, plastics, and Styrofoam.  Custodial staff monitor and empty the buckets into carts near the dumpster, plus collect their organics in the kitchen.  Organics By Gosh, owned by Phil Gosh, a Barton Hills dad, maintains cleanliness of carts, picks  up the organic material three times a week, and composts it at his facility.  The sixth graders, with the assistance of Mr. Gosh, have built a small composting bin at the school for educational and gardening purposes, and this bin will receive small amounts of raw organic material.  Lisa Kerber is serving as the Parent Liaison for this program.

Think for just a moment about how much waste will be diverted from our city’s landfill in a whole school year.  If you are excited about this pilot program, please show your appreciation to our Principal, Kati Achtermann, the custodial and cafeteria staff, and Phil Gosh and Jason Sanders of Organics By Gosh.