Above: Rey Foundation Research Director Chris Hilke discusses The Community School’s recent timber harvest with students in Nat’s Stewardship class. Below: Students discuss water quality monitoring with Tara Schroeder, Program Director for the Green Mountain Conservation Group.
Nat Scrimshaw of the Rey Foundation is working with students from The Community School “stewardship class.” Entitled “Designing a Sustainable Community School,” the class combines discussion and reflection on the idea of sustainability with hands-on projects. For example, students started by designing and building a chicken coop only from recycled materials found at the school, and when the gardens needed harvesting before a frost, the class pitched in.
The class is a looking at sustainability holistically, considering environmental, socio-cultural and economic dimensions, and directly exploring food, energy, biodiversity, shelter and community. Students are helping identify research plots to monitor climate change and exploring ways the Community School building could be more energy efficient and perhaps even generate its own power.
