2009 Tri-Valley Conservation Awards Winner Maggie LeMay

November 11, 2009

Project Description:

The Tri-Valley Conservation Awards are awarded to environmental leaders by a panel from three conservation authorities (South Nation, Rideau Valley, Mississippi Valley). Entries are evaluated on the basis of the quality of work and impact on the environment and the community. Projects can concern water quality, agricultural practices, forestry or other land stewardship issues. There are eight categories for awards, learn more about the Tri-Valley Awards.

The School Council of Featherston Drive Public School nominated teacher Maggie LeMay for a Tri-Valley Conservation Award in the Public School category. Mrs. LeMay has been a teacher at Featherston Drive PS for 10 years. Below are some of the comments they submitted in their nomination.

During this time she has contributed her time to a number of activities promoting conservation education within the school. Most notably, for the past 8 years, Mrs. LeMay has organized The Green Team, a group of Featherston students who promote environmental awareness by meeting weekly to discuss recycling and other greening efforts. The Green Team efforts are based on the curriculum of the EarthCARE program, which is active in the Ottawa Carleton District School Board. Some of the Featherston Green Team’s accomplishments are:

Implementing a garbage-free lunch – Started in Nov 2001, students were encouraged to bring in garbage-free lunches. Weekly raffles for tickets to Ottawa 67’s hockey games have continued to motivate the students. Thanks to the efforts of Mrs. LeMay the number of garbage bags was reduced from an average of 12 per day to an average of 5 per day. Not only has this reduced the amount of waste in the landfill but the school has saved approximately $1000 per year in reduced garbage collection;
Battery recycling program – In conjunction with the BatteryCycle, the Green Team collected batteries for recycling during April and May 2009. The response was overwhelming; a total of 168.71kg of used batteries were collected and provided to city recycling;
Lights Off / Computers Off (LOCO) – Students and staff members at Featherston are encouraged to turn off lights and computers when not in use throughout the school. The LOCO program alone avoided $1,247,147 in energy costs for the Ottawa Carleton District School Board in 2006-2007 and decreased CO2 emissions by 11.6 tonnes;
Light Exchange - In partnership with EarthCARE, the Featherston students and staff members took part in a festive light exchange with Hydro Ottawa. The students swapped old incandescent lights with energy-efficient LED lights. Students who brought in 2 strings of incandescent lights received a free string of LED lights. Members of the Featherston EarthCARE Team collected the lights. Hydro Ottawa picked up the old lights and delivered the new LEDs. The old lights were recycled. 26 strings of old lights were collected at Featherston;
Greening the schoolyard – Mrs. LeMay and the Green Team have been involved in numerous tree, garden and perennial plantings over the past 8 years. A total of 35 trees have been planted during this time with Mrs. LeMay and her students assisting in approximately half the plantings. Mrs. LeMay and her students have also assisted in the planning of a number of bulbs and perennials in the newly designed gardens of the Kindergarten playground. The school grounds have now become a lovely green space for students and the community to enjoy;
Weeding and clean up – Mrs. LeMay and the Green Team conduct an annual clean-up of the school grounds in the fall and spring. They also provide assistance for weeding the gardens around the school grounds;
Attending Environmental Workshops – Over the past 8 years Mrs. Lemay and several students have attended workshops for EarthCARE, the environmental stewardship program in the Ottawa Carleton DSB, thereby enhancing students’ environmental awareness;
Pollution Awareness Video – Mrs. LeMay and her class produced a video entitled “The Adventures of Air Boy and Oxygen Girl” to raise awareness of Featherston students to the effects of pollution;
Clean Up Featherston (in cooperation with Cleaning the Capital) – Mrs. LeMay connected with the City of Ottawa’s “Cleaning the Capital” to establish an event at Featherston. A collaborative effort between her Green Team and the School Ambassadors increased pollution awareness in the school, helped clean up the school grounds, and also increased the student engagement in green efforts around our school;
Curriculum Integration – Mrs. LeMay integrates environmental awareness into her daily professional practice. Within her classroom teaching, Mrs. LeMay directly teaches students environmental awareness lessons, and she extends this into daily practice by adding a green perspective on other lessons or topics under discussion. This same approach carries over into Mrs. LeMay’s work around the school, where she often suggests green solutions or ideas to improve our approach to a project or initiative within the school.

Maggie continues to be a tireless environmental leader within the Featherston Drive school community and she is looking forward to another successful year promoting environmental awareness with the Green Team! She is committed to being a steward of the environment and is the proud owner of a Prius hybrid vehicle with appropriate plates reading the Green Queen! This fall she and her team have already planted their trees from Trees Canada.

The Featherston Drive School council was proud to nominate Mrs. LeMay for the Tri-Valley Conservation Award and they celebrate her accomplishments. They were virtually beaming when Maggie won the Tri-Valley award. We all thank Maggie for all she does to develop environmental stewardship and leadership in her school and community.

Well done, Maggie – you make a huge difference!