NHS of Springer Wins 4th Place In National Recycling Competition

On Wednesday, March 9^th, the National Honor Society of Springer High School was notified by Tyler Orton, manager of recycling programs for Keep America Beautiful, of the school’s fourth place finish in the national Keep America Beautiful Recycling competition. The competition ran from October 15 through November 19^th, 2015. Data was verified in December and winning schools were notified last week.

 

SHS participated in the Community Division of the competition. In this category schools collect recyclable material not only from the school but from individuals, groups and organizations in its surrounding community. These schools tracked the weight of their recyclables and divided it by their schools per capita population to compete nationally against other similarly categorized schools that are eligible to win the title.

 

SHS recycled 122 pounds of paper and cardboard per student at the high school, recycling 6604 pounds total.  The winning school in the community division, Hillcrest Elementary from Dublin, Georgia, recycled 318lbs per student at the school. “They have been doing this for many years and have won in the past,” Tyler Orton stated. Out of the 115 schools listed in the community division rankings on recyclebowl.org, SHS was the only school listed for New Mexico. NHS students emptied recycling bins weekly from around the high school campus, bi-weekly from the Miranda building at the elementary (where efforts were headed by Ms. Ramirez the 5^th grade instructor) and assisted with purges from approved files and outdated text/library books from both the elementary and JH/HS campuses. Every student and employee assisted the project in some way.

The Santa Fe Trail Chapter of National Honor Society at Springer High School maintains the national standard of membership at a 3.5 G.P.A. ; students must be recommended for their leadership, scholarship, service, and character. There are 16 current members including; Senior Kara Burton; Juniors Chris Casias, Zachary Sanchez, Isaiah Garcia, and Damien Blaubach; Sophomores Hannah Burton, Shania DeHerrera, Bryan Romero, Isaac Ivans, and Jaidyn Swartz; Freshman Alicia Thompson-O’Banion, and Emma Sandlin. National Junior Honor Society members include Antonio Chavez, Michael Sanchez, Dominic Tafoya and Shylow Saenz. Members have logged 171 community service hours so far this school year with two more projects remaining. Mr. Kristopher Otto, AP and college prep English instructor is the NHS/NJHS sponsor.

 

There are two other divisions that schools may enter. In the school division, which include a Statewide and National Title, schools track only the recyclable materials they generate from within the school and may not solicit materials from the general public, home, businesses, groups, or organizations. The New Mexico winner of the state competition was Capitan Municipal schools. In the district division, national competition only, whole school districts compete nationally against other school districts. Each district tracked the weight of its recyclables and divided it by the total number of students, teachers and administrators.

 

Keep America Beautiful is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization that brings people together to build and sustain vibrant communities. With its national network of community-based affiliates, they work with millions of volunteers who take action in their communities to transform public spaces into beautiful places. Through their programs and public-private partnerships, they engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community’s environment.

 

KAB has many partners in the national and state recycling competition including Busch Systems, Trex, Weisenbach Recycled Products, Consumer Aerosol Products Council, American Forest Foundation/Project Learning Tree, Eco-School USA (National Wildlife Federation), and Earth Day Network.