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Schools

Schalm Elementary First Michigan Green School in Clawson

Schalm was recognized Wednesday among 193 schools for its green initiative.

accomplished its first year as a Michigan Green School this year and was acknowledged Wednesday morning at the fourth annual Oakland County Green Schools ceremony.

Principal Patricia Pell said she was pleased that Schalm is one of the 42 schools new to obtaining the certification. One hundred and fifty-one other schools were recognized as well for maintaining the Green School status they previously achieved.

“Everyone bought into it this year, and it’s certainly important for our times,” Pell said.

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In order to receive the Green School status, schools have to perform a series of green-friendly activities and then apply for the certification, thoroughly detailing the projects they have taken on.

At the ceremony, it was announced that some things have changed for next year; for example, the application process will be entirely online and there were some modifications to the qualifying activities.

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To obtain the minimum requirements to receive the certification, 10 activities following the guidelines must be met throughout the school year. There is also emerald status, in which participating schools achieve 15 green-related activities. Finally, there is evergreen status, which is presented to participants completing 20 qualifying activities.

Schalm met the minimum requirements this year and was the only school in the district to receive the acknowledgement.

Among the top 10 Green Schools recognized, the top three Oakland County Green Schools were Keller Elementary School of Royal Oak, Royal Oak Middle School and Walled Lake Central High School.

Pell noted that Schalm had tried to kick-start the movement to obtain Green School status last year but had better luck this year in fulfilling all the activities and getting to the application process. Now that Schalm has achieved that goal, school leaders plan to maintain the status annually and build upon the school's eco-friendly initiatives.

Marjorie Joyce-Oberer, a Schalm first-grade teacher who helped spearhead the Green School movement, attended the award ceremony with Pell.

“They’re just starting to get the whole green concept, but I think they’re excited about it,” Joyce-Oberer said of the students at Schalm. “I think it will become second nature for them, and they won’t even think twice about recycling materials. It will be instilled in them at a young age.”

Joyce-Oberer noted that the school already has energy-efficient windows and has been recycling for years. Students are still waiting for a sunny day to hold a planned solar cookout.

Ideas brought up at the ceremony included rain gardens, shoe drives, a sports equipment recycle-and-swap event and having "green kid" awards based on how energy-efficient individual students are.

Pell said Joyce-Oberer left the ceremony with a full page of notes of effective strategies for next year.

“Now that we are a Green School, we want to make the top 10,” Pell said. 

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