K-16 Education: Project Ideas and Success Stories

Thurston Middle School, Springfield, OR

Working with community members, these middle school students created a school garden. They worked to construct beds, plant vegetables and create a pathway. The food grown in the garden was donated to Food for Lane County, the school’s catering class and their school cafeteria in an effort to make school lunches healthier.

Mazama High School, Klamath Falls, OR

Students and staff worked together to implement a paper recycling program into their high school. Each classroom was provided with a recycling bin and students created awareness posters to educate everyone about the importance of recycling.

Weston-McEwen High School, Athena, OR

High school students at Weston-McEwen restored a dilapidated Memorial Rose Garden and cleaned the memorial fountain. They met their curriculum goals by planning, researching and leading the project. Students placed a white picket fence around their newly planted roses and when finished, had a sense of community pride and accomplishment.

Middleton Elementary School, Sherwood, OR

Two fifth grade students saw a community need and took action! The students noticed a growing problem with litter around their school grounds. With the help of their teacher and principal, they developed and implemented a plan to reduce the litter. The two students led classmates to purchase trash receptacles, presented an assembly promoting a clean campus and organized a school wide clean-up day.

Riley Creek Elementary School, Gold Beach, OR

In partnership with the South Coast and Lower Rogue Watershed Councils, 150 students worked to improve the riparian area along Riley Creek. While they were learning about the riparian areas in class, students from kindergarten to fifth grade planted 175 native trees and shrubs. The woodshop class created a sign near the creek letting the public know that the area is adopted by the school.

Alameda Elementary School, Portland, OR

Students and teachers worked together on a playground beatification project. The fifth grade class planted stars and placed them around the cyclone fence to improve the look of their neighborhood. Students created their stars after studying designs from different cultures.

Astor Elementary School, Astoria, OR

Second graders from Astor Elementary School created a habitat around their school for native birds. In working with The Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership, students learned about birds and planted native trees throughout the grounds. After the elementary students explored possible sites for bird houses, students from the high school art class assisted them in painting the houses. Once completed, the second graders placed the bird houses around the school.

Ferndale Elementary School, Milton-Freewater, OR

Students began building an in-stream flow box to better measure change flow of the spring-fed stream. The metal used to build the flow box was recovered from a discarded portable dishwasher that was found in a local stream. Students measured the boards and used a protractor to lay out the bevel. These skills were connected to their math lessons during the following weeks.

Nestucca Valley Elementary School, Cloverdale, OR

Elementary school students removed weeds, created a butterfly garden and made trail improvements. Students also planted native plants, adding identification labels and posters along the trail. The third grade students read to their kindergarten “buddies” about butterflies and assisted the first grade students in identifying native plants.