Environmental Responsibility
Saint Stephen’s values environmental awareness and understands that the need to protect natural resources is an integral part of responsible global citizenship. The school believes that teaching students to be good environmental stewards is one of the best ways to protect the earth.
Dedication to environmental awareness extends beyond the four walls of the classroom to the LEED silver-certified Sunlight Middle School, the on-campus bayou and boat dock, and the nearby organic farm with whom Saint Stephen’s partners. Teachers integrate lessons about sustainability into the curriculum, and they empower students to take action to care for the environment.
Saint Stephen’s introduces the concept of sustainability through both extracurricular opportunities and classroom activities. The following are a few of our green initiatives:
- The annual spring Go Green to School Day encourages families to walk, bike, or carpool to school to reduce their carbon footprints.
- Upper School students have completed externships with local organizations that promote environmental stewardship, including Mote Marine, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- Lower School students plant, maintain, and harvest foods from an on-campus garden as part of their science education coursework. Earthboxes around campus showcase the local growing season. Beginning in the 2011-2012 school year, students will use herbs grown on campus when cooking regional dishes in foreign language classes.
- Saint Stephen’s participates in a “sister farm” program with Geraldson’s Community Farm, an organic farm in Bradenton. Students volunteer in the fields, are invited to special events at the farm, and families have the option to join the farm’s 30-week Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, in which boxes of produce are delivered to campus for member pick-up.
- Students benefit from the resources of the Tampa Bay community. Field trips are planned to places including Geraldson’s Community Farm, Robinson Preserve, Mote Marine, Lena Road Landfill, and Tampa Baywatch. In class and assemblies, students learn from visiting experts on topics such as ornithology, renewable energy policy, and the effects of the BP oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico.
- The on-campus bayou and boat dock contribute to a thriving Marine Science Program. Students in the Intermediate, Middle, and Upper divisions explore local wildlife and ecosystems using the school’s kayaks. Students in all divisions explore the area from the adjacent dry dock; manatees, herons, turtles, blue crabs, mullet, and wood ducks have been spotted in the area. Once an interim, families are invited to participate in an educational kayak tour of a Bradenton waterway.
- Pre-Kindergarten students learn about local wildlife through an animal tracking study of animals living on or visiting the Saint Stephen’s campus.
- Saint Stephen’s recognizes the need to reduce the amount of waste entering landfills, and instituted an all-school recycling program of mixed paper, plastics, batteries, and ink cartridges to address the problem. In the Middle and Upper Divisions, the recycling program is student-led. The Lower Division encourages “no waste” lunches, and composts leftover food scraps.
- The Green Club in the Upper School educates the larger student body about environmental responsibility through speakers, posters, and other club activities. The students raised money to buy additional recycling bins for the school, and they coordinated with State College of Florida to participate in the Guinness World Record event of most plastic bottles collected in a single day.
- The school saves paper by offering electronic submission of materials to parents and students and uses an online course management system to coordinate electronic organization of class materials.
By the time students graduate from Saint Stephen’s, they will have a greater understanding of the environment and appreciation for what it means to be a responsible global citizen.
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