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Angela (she/her) is a 7th grade science and social studies teacher who solves mysteries. Whether she’s tracking down the prize while geocaching or working with her students to audit food waste in their cafeteria, she knows there’s always something new to discover.
Organization:
Prairie View Middle School
Sun Prairie, WI
Read more about Angela's project in "Food Waste Reduction Program Inspires Middle Schoolers to Engage" in our blog series, CEE-Change, Together.
Community Action Project:
My CEE Change fellowship project involved my students analyzing and taking ownership of the food waste systems within our school. Students collected pre- and post-data on the amount of food being wasted around multiple implemented solutions. In small groups, students developed an awareness campaign, student input pathways, on-site composting, and a food share table. Together with these actions, the students were able to have a potential reduction of food waste by almost 60%! Students continued their impact by working with the City of Sun Prairie to support its first annual compost bin sale by presenting to the community on how to compost. Students were recognized for their work by the Dane County Office of Energy and Renewables as a Climate Champion and by Sustain Dane as a Live Forward awardee in 2022.
What This Fellowship Has Meant For You:
The most rewarding part of this fellowship was being able to make connections over my passion for environmental education and civic engagement. I valued hearing how we could work together to overcome challenges in our work and lean on one another as colleagues.
Future Work:
With a switch of school assignments, I am currently working on starting on-site composting and developing a food share table and my new school. I also plan to run a geo-inquiry with a community action component next school year.
