Certified In 2006, Dundalk Middle Is Keeping It Green

The Maryland Green School Awards Program is a unique approach to environmental learning that rewards schools for teaching about environmental issues while incorporating opportunities for professional development, community stewardship, and implementation of environmental best practices.

 Schools applying for Maryland Green School certification are required to document environmental activities over a two-year period. Currently, Dundalk is home to seven certified Maryland Green Schools. Dundalk Patch has been sharing some of the highlights from each of Dundalk’s green schools.

What do a diamondback terrapin, a renovated courtyard, and a butterfly garden all have in common? They were all important parts of Dundalk Middle School’s application for Maryland Green School certification.

Originally certified in 2006, a committee that included administrators, teachers, students, PTA members and a representative from the Dundalk Renaissance Corporation, tackled a variety of environmentally beneficial activities to earn the title of “Green School.”

Trish Knight, a teacher at Dundalk Middle, said that students weren’t sure what to make of the green school process at first.

“Making environmental concepts visible to the kids was important,” Knight said. “At first, they ask what a green school is and what it means.”

By the time Dundalk Middle submitted its green school application, the students were very aware of exactly what it means to be green. One of the largest projects undertaken by Dundalk Middle was the renovation of a courtyard surrounded on all sides by the school. According to Knight, the courtyard was not much to look at.

“It was huge,” Knight said. “And it was just plain grass.”

After students and teachers were finished with the courtyard, it featured fresh mulch, more than 80 native plants, and picnic tables constructed by students at Sollers Point Technical High School. Knight said teachers often use the courtyard as an outdoor classroom.

Another one of Dundalk Middle’s green efforts involved raising a diamondback terrapin. Knight said when the school received the terrapin it was about the size of a quarter. It was raised in a 50-gallon tank in the school and released to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

To help students understand the importance of diamondback terrapins in our environment, Dundalk Middle brought in a guest speaker.

Additional activities included constructing a butterfly garden around the school’s flagpole, recycling as much as possible, and raising horseshoe crabs that were also released to DNR.

As part of the Maryland Green School certification process, students at Dundalk Middle have a number of unique opportunities to learn about the natural environment.

Sixth graders have the opportunity for a weeklong environmental experience at NorthBay in Cecil County. According to their web site, the mission of NorthBay is to “challenge middle school students to realize that their attitudes and actions have a lasting impact on their future, the environment and the people around them by using approved Maryland Department of Education curriculum and the outdoors as an integrating context.”

Seventh and eighth graders have similar environmental experiences integrated into the curriculum, albeit a bit closer to home. At different times throughout the year, these students go to nearby Merritt Point Park, where they engage in various green-themed activities at stations around the park.

For Knight, the best part of all the hard work that goes into making a school green is observing the student experience.

“The best part is the student involvement,” Knight said. “Some of the kids who aren’t always as successful in every aspect of class really excel at some of the projects we did.”

Dundalk Middle School was recertified as a Maryland Green School in 2010, but Knight noted that being “green” is not something that stops once the school has earned certification. In fact, Knight said the school is considering incorporating vegetable gardens into its activities in the near future.

So how far can Dundalk Middle School go as a green school? Knight summed it up nicely.

“We’re always looking for the next idea!”