I joined the Green Team in 9th grade when I offered to create a Wikispaces website for the club, in an effort to help raise awareness of all the different activities the club was involved in. Mr. Heathcote, who runs the club was very enthusiastic of my idea and thus I got to work. After talking to Mr. Russell, the IT director, I got the green light to create a Wikispaces page under the school’s domain. Shortly after, I got to work, creating content such as logos and digital posters for the Green Team. My objective was to promptly bring the webpage to an up and running state.
As I started working with the Green Team’s digital content I also got involved with their day to day operations such as recycling, raising environmental awareness, and raising funds for environmental causes. I would attend regular meetings and in between of those meetings I would dedicate my time to creating content and publishing it on the Green Team’s Wikispaces page. One of my objectives was to get more people involved in the Green Team and I felt that was attainable through the use of digital and social media. Part of spreading the word was promoting the Green Team by documenting its day to day activities in photos and in videos. I would often compile slideshows for the website and publish videos to a YouTube channel which I created for the sole purpose of hosting green team videos. The green team soon expanded its online reach, when I helped launch the green team’s Facebook page. My goal was to more effectively connect with other students and to further the Green Team’s online presence. I made sure that all the events hosted by the Green Team were properly advertised, thus I made sure they were present on both the Facebook and Wiki page, but also in strategic areas around the school, such as the TV monitor in the plaza. The Green Team taught me not only new technical skills, but it taught me how to better collaborate and work in a team. Many projects undertaken by the Green Team are too complex to be completed by a single individual, thus working in a team has proven to be essential to the success of an activity. With the start of each meeting, we are split into smaller working groups where goals are achieved together as a group. Often times working with younger students from the elementary school fosters increased responsibility and awareness. I consistently work to make the school a greener place by promoting and enforcing the three “R’s”: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. At school the green team works hard to ensure everyone is using the appropriate waste bins for recycling. The school originally recycled everything from tetrapak, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, cardboard to paper. Later on thanks to various partners and the Green Team the school was able to recycle batteries in addition to other materials. As part of the Green Team I made sure that everyone was aware of what we could recycle and where they could do so. I promoted recycling through the creation of posters, informational videos and online announcements. I would often use my technical skill to create animations, logos and videos for the Green Team.