Students work to transform community with compost
Engineering students at Lebanon High School are putting their creative skills to the test to design and create compost bins.
"I really like engineering. I really like building things. I really like using Google SketchUp," said Alexandra Astwood, a senior.
From the drawing table to the wood shop, the kids are piecing together their sustainable waste containers.
"I just feel like a lot of kids in this school want to help their environment and this is just a step closer to making that goal happen," said Chris Henry, an engineering student.
The engineering students are collaborating on the project with the school's "Students For A Sustainable Future" group. SSF-- as it is known-- wrote the Burn Foundation grant to get the project off the ground.
"It's paid off a year of composting at our current composting rates and the two design stations and signage that the art classes are making," science teacher Chrissy Morley said.
A local farm in Corinth is receiving the waste. Morley says that the design, construction, and implementation of the bins themselves are stretching learning throughout the school.
"It is kind of a nice fusion where we are trying to get a lot of buy-in from students, so that in the cafeteria they will say, I worked on that or I helped write the grant," Morley said.
"There's a lot of different components that go into this, so I think we are already learning a lot," Astwood said.
But the kids are not stopping there. They hope the farm-to-school project-- like those already in place in neighboring Vermont-- will be mimicked across the country.
"My goal is not just to have local schools have the compost station but maybe one day to have it nationwide," Henry said.
The students hope to have the compost bins finished and useable by Nov. 18. On that day, New Hampshire is hosting its first ever farm-to-school conference at Lebanon High School.
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