HHS Nominated for Green Ribbon
The MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced
last week that Hingham High School is one of just three Massachusetts
schools nominated for recognition in the federal Green Ribbon Schools (GRS)
award program.
Launched by the U.S. Department of Education (USED) in 2011, the Green Ribbon Schools recognition "honors schools that are exemplary in reducing environmental impact and costs, improving the health and wellness of students and staff, and delivering effective environmental and sustainability education that incorporates Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), civic skills, and green career pathways." This is the third year that Massachusetts is participating in the federal awards program.
Little more than a year after MassRecycles gave HHS its highest award for school recycling, this new recognition underscores the extent to which students and staff have embraced environmental issues. "We are thrilled by this news," said Assistant Principal Rick Swanson, who advises the HHS Green Team and submitted the GRS application on the school's behalf. "Environmental stewardship is taken seriously at HHS. Our teachers and other staff members work hard to model a commitment to environmental responsibility. And most importantly, our students bring genuine passion, energy and leadership to what they recognize as one of the most pressing global issues of our time. This recognition is a testament to the good things that happen in our school each and every day."
This year's federal Green Ribbon Schools award winners will be announced by the U.S. Department of Education on Earth Day: April 22, 2015.
Launched by the U.S. Department of Education (USED) in 2011, the Green Ribbon Schools recognition "honors schools that are exemplary in reducing environmental impact and costs, improving the health and wellness of students and staff, and delivering effective environmental and sustainability education that incorporates Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), civic skills, and green career pathways." This is the third year that Massachusetts is participating in the federal awards program.
Little more than a year after MassRecycles gave HHS its highest award for school recycling, this new recognition underscores the extent to which students and staff have embraced environmental issues. "We are thrilled by this news," said Assistant Principal Rick Swanson, who advises the HHS Green Team and submitted the GRS application on the school's behalf. "Environmental stewardship is taken seriously at HHS. Our teachers and other staff members work hard to model a commitment to environmental responsibility. And most importantly, our students bring genuine passion, energy and leadership to what they recognize as one of the most pressing global issues of our time. This recognition is a testament to the good things that happen in our school each and every day."
This year's federal Green Ribbon Schools award winners will be announced by the U.S. Department of Education on Earth Day: April 22, 2015.
MA Farm to Cafeteria Conference
In
January, HHS Green Team students participated in a regional conference,
the Massachusetts Farm to Cafeteria Symposium, at the College of the Holy
Cross. HHS senior, Kerri Mannion, and sophomore,
Max Giarrusso, joined Janice McPhillips of Holly Hill Farm for a presentation about
the successful HHS gardening, composting, and greenhouse program. See photo below.
Food Pantry Donation
With the successful winter growing season in the Greenhouse, we were able to donate hydroponic salad greens to the Hingham Interfaith Food Pantry this past January. We hope for another great harvest, so we can donate more in the upcoming months.
DOT Project
At the end of January, the Green Team began a new project, titled: Do One Thing, to promote environmental behavior in 2015. Using duck tape, we outlined the graduation years of the four grades at HHS. During lunch, students are encouraged to write down one way in which they will go green in 2015 on a "dot" sticker. The students then place their dots on their graduation year in the hope that their class will be the first to fill its number. Ultimately, our aim is to encourage green behavior at the school-wide level.
T-Shirt Design Contest
Entry 1
The Green Team recently held a contest for a new T-Shirt design! We will soon vote for the image that will appear on our new shirts. The contest entries can be found in the links below.
201502250715.pdf |
Entry 2
(First design is the front of the shirt and the second is the back of the shirt)
(First design is the front of the shirt and the second is the back of the shirt)
t-shirt.zip |
hingham_high_school_green_team_shirt-02.png |
Weir River Smelt Project
In the upcoming months, several
Hingham High School Green Team members will attempt to facilitate the
successful hatching, feeding, and release of smelt fish eggs from the Weir
River. Last year, in the pilot year of the project, the budding biologists of Hingham
High School released several live fish back into the wild, but this year, the
students, led by Ms. Roberts, hope to take the initiative a step further,
raising rotifers, near-microscopic organisms, for the juvenile smelt to feed
on.
In the first step of the process, the young scientists will raise the rotifers. Paying close attention to salinity and other water-quality factors, rotifers are grown in buckets of algae-rich water for several weeks. Then in late March, with the help of local biologist Brad Chase, students will procure a small sample of eggs from the river. The eggs will require daily monitoring: once the majority of the fish hatch in the carefully controlled environment, they will get their first meal, as students introduce the rotifers. The fish can only be kept in captivity for about two weeks after hatching, due to the buildup of toxic ammonia, and so will be released accordingly.
The goal of the experiment is to educate students on the early life cycle of smelt, as well as providing a cool real-world biology study opportunity. However, the project also serves to raise awareness on the plight of the smelt. Once considered bountiful in Eastern Massachusetts, the population has dwindled in recent decades. Most notably, in Hingham, the smelt population took a massive blow following the reconstruction of the Foundry Pond Dam. The dam repairs, made in the late 1990s, altered the flow and shape of the river, widening and reducing the depth of the causeway while reducing flow rate. The combination was lethal, as that year, millions of smelt eggs dried up on the river banks as the water receded past its normal level. The new shape of the river, with slower flow rates, also proved unfavorable for smelt. Brad Chase, project leader of Diadromous Fish Passage and Habitat Restoration in Massachusetts, notes that although the fish haven’t yet reached “endangered” levels of concern, smelt are close, and could be heading in that direction.
While the project will not dramatically aid the smelt population directly, the local environmental conservation experts hope that it can indirectly by raising awareness of the local environment.
Stay tuned for updates!
In the first step of the process, the young scientists will raise the rotifers. Paying close attention to salinity and other water-quality factors, rotifers are grown in buckets of algae-rich water for several weeks. Then in late March, with the help of local biologist Brad Chase, students will procure a small sample of eggs from the river. The eggs will require daily monitoring: once the majority of the fish hatch in the carefully controlled environment, they will get their first meal, as students introduce the rotifers. The fish can only be kept in captivity for about two weeks after hatching, due to the buildup of toxic ammonia, and so will be released accordingly.
The goal of the experiment is to educate students on the early life cycle of smelt, as well as providing a cool real-world biology study opportunity. However, the project also serves to raise awareness on the plight of the smelt. Once considered bountiful in Eastern Massachusetts, the population has dwindled in recent decades. Most notably, in Hingham, the smelt population took a massive blow following the reconstruction of the Foundry Pond Dam. The dam repairs, made in the late 1990s, altered the flow and shape of the river, widening and reducing the depth of the causeway while reducing flow rate. The combination was lethal, as that year, millions of smelt eggs dried up on the river banks as the water receded past its normal level. The new shape of the river, with slower flow rates, also proved unfavorable for smelt. Brad Chase, project leader of Diadromous Fish Passage and Habitat Restoration in Massachusetts, notes that although the fish haven’t yet reached “endangered” levels of concern, smelt are close, and could be heading in that direction.
While the project will not dramatically aid the smelt population directly, the local environmental conservation experts hope that it can indirectly by raising awareness of the local environment.
Stay tuned for updates!