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LP-GE High School exploring Youth Eco Teams

On Tuesday Shelli-Kae Foster and I met with LP-GE high school principal Mr. Rud. We wanted to discuss the forming of a YES Team at the school. YES Teams, or Youth Eco Solutions Teams, are groups of high school or middle school students that use a science based approach to tackle a wide range of environmental problems and to educate themselves in the process. As Shelli-Kae, who is the YES Program Manager, told Mr. Rud, a YES Team can be embedded in a science class or it can be an extracurricular activity. Three of the twenty-six teams in Minnesota school are located in Alternative Learning Centers, according to Shelli-Kaye. The ALCs hands-on learning style is particularly well suited to the YES Team approach, Shelli-Kaye said.

Here are descriptions of some of the YES! Team projects from nearby schools that were done last year:

Melrose - Sold LED light bulbs provided by their local utility and educated their community about energy savings. Used the money generated to purchase smart power strips for teachers and increase the number of school garbage stations. Designed signs for these garbage stations. Worked on Hemker zoo animal enrichment research. Planned Earth Day activities for local 2nd graders. 

Sartell - St. Stephens - Helped educate 1300 students on waste reduction. Researched and lobbied for bulk milk in the lunch room to replace paper cartons, to be trialed in the fall. Tracked school paper usage, challenged school to use less. Placed recycling bins in all classrooms and lunchroom. Made a video to train peers on proper recycling in the lunchroom. 

Glencoe - Silver Lake - Designed and built two portable 120 volt solar chargers for students and staff to use in an out of school and to power their electric vehicles. Raised funds for their projects by recycling over 6,000 pounds of scrap metal. Entered four vehicles into the annual MTEEA Super mileage Challenge. Designed and built a boat to compete in the MRES Solar Boat Regatta. Displayed their vehicles at the MN State Fair and local expos. 

Mr. Rud expressed an interest in seeing a YES Team created at LP-GE but said that it was a decision that had to be made by his science faculty. Shelli-Kaye and I will be meeting with Mr. Rud and the LP-GE science faculty in January. 




If you want to learn more about YES Teams and their activities across Minnesota you can visit https://yesmn.org

Tim
Central Minnesota Political

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