Middle School Green Ambassadors Honoring Graduates One Sapling at a Time

Some of the most impressive features of Germantown Academy's LEED (Leading in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certified campus are the outdoor spaces that connect directly to curriculum across the school. The  Academic Courtyard, Green Roof, Apiary, Greenhouse, and Preserve are veritable classrooms, driving curriculum in science and art alike. They provide rich extracurricular opportunities for students as well.  The Green Ambassadors club, organized by faculty in each division of the school has a fairly simple mission, make the Germantown Academy campus environment healthier. Science teachers, Maura Saurman and Rollie Wakemen, coordinate the club in the middle school. This year, they launched The Acorn Project that helps students have a voice in the direction of the green spaces while honoring our graduating seniors. According to Wakeman, "The goal of The Acorn Project is to raise oak tree seedlings from acorns found on campus to gift them to the seniors during graduation practice.  The hope is that some of the graduates will plant their oak tree as a remembrance of the life they started at GA that continues to grow once they leave.  By doing this project students learned the difficulty in collecting and growing oak trees from acorns.  We are waiting with baited breath to see if we end up with enough for every senior to have one."  When students aren't spending their Tuesday lunch period in the science lab with Wakeman and Saurman, they are typically found designing pamphlets and writing scripts for the tours they give of the green spaces on campus.