Ever wondered what goes into a BC Green Games project? Last year, secondary school teacher, Marina Mehai, joined BC Green Games as a teacher sponsor for the first time. For Port Moody Secondary’s inaugural year, her enthusiastic team of students started a green club in their school, and raised awareness about several environmental issues, including trail clean-ups, an electronics donation drive, and garbage vs. compost awareness posters.
This year, her students are ready to join in BC Green Games again, and they plan to build on the initiatives they established last year and they have even more ideas about sharing their story than before!
Ms. Mehai is a former colleague of ours, so we were excited to catch up and learn about her experience leading a BC Green Games team and her team’s plans for next year.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and how you learned about BC Green Games
I’m a Science and Math teacher currently working at Port Moody Secondary School. Before going into teaching full time, I worked in the informal learning context at Science World. I had a chance to see BC Green Games develop from the beginning and flourish into a celebration of the wonderful work that students are doing from Kindergarten to Grade 12 across British Columbia.
I love our beautiful backyard and it’s been great to share that with a group of environmentally-dedicated youth at my school.
What is your upcoming BC Green Games project about?
The students have put ahead their action plan, which comprises of a few different projects. A few are continuations from what they started last year and they even added a few new initiatives. Here’s a list of what they have planned and are currently undertaking:
-Electronics drive to help recycle used electronics
-School garden planting and maintenance
-School clean-up
-Adopt-a-trail initiative
-Fundraising for a water-filling station
-Creation of improved signage for recycling and compost stations
-Planning and implementation of an eco-fair at the school
What inspired your team to join BC Green Games?
We first joined BC Green Games last year. At that time, our Green Team had a lot of great things planned for the school year so I decided to share the contest with them. They got excited too and they decided that they would put together an action plan to submit.
For their first run, they did fairly well and they ended up with a Viewer’s Choice prize. We decided we would sign-up again this year to share what we’re doing now and what our future plans will be.
How has BC Green Games impacted your school?
After the first year, the club gained traction and additional students joined this year. As a result, the club’s goals and overall reach has increased. They now have the capacity to take on more projects that both impact our school directly (e.g. implementing an electronics drive, creating recycling bin signage, fundraising for water-filling station, planning for a school eco-fair, etc.) as well as our local community (e.g. adopt-a-trail clean-up, community clean-up, etc.)
How have your environmental projects changed how your students think about the environment?
The students are taking ownership of learning about their local environment and how they can make changes. They have connected with mentors to help them learn how to carry out various projects. They are active in seeking out these connections because they realize the importance of their environment and they want to protect it for the future. It’s this shift in thinking and socially responsible behaviour that they will take with them into the future.
Want to see other awesome projects? Check out the BC Green Games galleries, or join in by registering your Green Team!