The City of Milton has awarded Environmental Education Grants to four local schools, all aimed at growing existing programs and places so they are even more beneficial and enlightening to students and staff.

Awarded every year, these $600 grants are open to public schools that – through their applications – outline compelling opportunities to promote greater environmentalism and sustainability. They help allow for tangible upgrades on school properties that further students’ understanding of and appreciation of gardening, recycling and reusing, and the natural world generally.

 The 2024 grant winners are: 

• BIRMINGHAM FALLS ELEMENTARY, which will expand its vegetable garden as part of an initiative led by a group of fifth-grade girls. The idea is a new set of fifth graders will take over lead garden responsibilities each year, all the while including younger BFES students in the growing process.

   

• SUMMIT HILL ELEMENTARY, where the grant funding will go toward a lunchroom food waste composting project, including to purchase a dehydrator and food processor, so the school can process several more gallons of food per week. The resulting material will end up as rich “compost tea” in Summit Hill’s garden that’s overseen by Health and PE teacher Britt Simonton.

   

• CAMBRIDGE HIGH, which will use the grant for three-bin composter that will hold three stages of compostable materials, turning fresh waste into usable soil. Students will also modify chicken coops to capture rainwater, which reduces runoff into nearby creeks (and rivers) in addition to giving the chickens something more to drink (without having to turn on the tap).

   

• MILTON HIGH, with the funding helping bring about upgrades in the Community Based Instruction (CBI) program’s on-campus garden such as adding new tables (to replace old benches), creating more accessible walkways, and possibly using mosaic tiles for safe, level steppingstones.

Congratulations to all of this year’s Environmental Education Grant winners. Keep going – and keep growing!