March has arrived, but it’s as frigid as mid-January. The Schalmont Middle School Environmental Club, however, is ignoring the cold and preparing for warmer ahead days by learning how to propagate plants, which will be replanted in the spring.
I think it increases their awareness of where our food comes from, for one thing, said Laura Milak, a Cornell Cooperative Extension resource educator who will be teaching students about the process.
Students will learn how to propagate plants through herbaceous cuttings, succulent plants and seeds. They will then take home a few small plants to sow in the spring.
Milak said her goal is to connect students to the environment by teaching them about the plants they will be propagating. Those plants include mint and a `little tiny houseplant.`
`Not all plants are large. Some are very tiny and they appear like they’re insignificant, but every plant has its role in the environment,` said Milak.
For the past 10 years, the Environmental Club has helped Schalmont Middle School students learn how to preserve their environment. Members collect ink cartridges and recycle paper to raise money for activities, such as building birdhouses, creating a flower garden on the school campus and taking watershed tours led by the Lake George Association. They also share facts and tips on the middle school morning announcements to raise their classmates’ awareness of how to conserve energy and the environment.
`We’ve been working with Laura Milak for the past three to five years,` said Joann Lasky, Environmental Club advisor. `We had one workshop where she came in, and we created ‘edible ornaments.’ We took bagels and peanut butter and we dipped them in the bird seed and we hung them in trees.`
Club members also made holiday garlands out of popcorn and cranberries so that the birds would have something to eat in the winter.
`I joined the Environmental Club to help the environment,` said Lauren Dunham, a sixth-grader at Draper Middle School and a member of the Environmental Club.
She plans to use the mint that she propagated for sauces after she has planted it in the spring. Her favorite activity is recycling.
However, the Environmental Club does more than just recycle to improve the school’s grounds and how it runs.
`We did a flower garden once on the other side of the campus, but it was a little hard to keep watered,` said Lasky. `We’re looking at possibly doing something in our courtyard right here in the middle of our school. We’d like to keep working on that.`
The morning announcements the students make `remind kids to recycle and to give the kid hints on ways that they can be good stewards of the land and recycle,` said Lasky.
The Environmental Club is currently working on getting Styrofoam trays out of the cafeterias, but right now it’s slightly `cost-prohibitive.`
Lasky said she also wants to work on public outreach by having kids send letters to the editors in terms of recycling and conservation.
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