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Kids learn Green Vision by doing.

When Resurrection Elementary School in Dubuque, Iowa, became the first parochial school to receive the Dubuque Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency's (DMASWA )Green Vision Education Award in 2007, Sister Donna Demmer, PBVM, fifth grade teacher at Resurrection was there with her students and whole school community to stand proud. Their school community received the Green Vision flag to hang outside the school and a banner to display inside the building.

The Green Vision program is a cooperative effort supported by the DMASWA, the City of Dubuque, the Dubuque County Conservation Board and Down to Earth Solutions. Initiated by the community in 2006, the program recognizes schools for their efforts in sustainable natural resource management and pollution prevention in the school and community environment. Classroom practices, buildings and grounds maintenance and curriculum are all evaluated and suggestions are then made by the Green Vision Team toward advancing environmental stewardship.

Resurrection teachers, Barb Davis and Phyllis Czarnecki, initiated the program at their school with the help of their principal and custodian. Barb and Phyllis say that their students were excited about the program and eagerly jumped in to spread the word and get other classes involved. Each grade appointed two monitors to oversee and encourage their classmates to step up the recycling of trash while also keeping an eye out for other ways to conserve and improve the environment.

Sister Donna and fifth-graders are proud to go green by recycling paper and monitoring their use of water. "I encourage my students to use the recycling bins in the room and to use both sides of a piece of paper. Our classroom received the award for having the least amount of waste in our wastepaper basket. For one week the amount of waste was only 12 ounces." Sister Donna adds, "When we wash the desks we use towels instead of paper towels. We also have hand sanitizer in our classroom that does not require the use of water."