In addition to the previous efforts, Shipley’s Middle School has also been taking steps to improve its sustainability, especially this school year. The science curriculum for all three grades has been adjusted to include topics such as climate change, food waste, and energy consumption. 

 

The seventh-grade curriculum previously focused on the environment but has expanded to include information on different types of pollution and the ozone layer along with many other important topics. In addition, as part of the lunch duty process, Middle Schoolers are put in charge of “waste watching” in the Commons to make sure people dispose of things in the proper place. There has also been an emphasis on teaching students how to print double-sided, how to print in grayscale, and how to minimize printed materials altogether. In addition, teachers in other classes are trying to promote more sustainable topics in their curriculums. Examples of this include data about energy usage among different states and learning about laws that promote sustainability.

In the future, the Middle School is hoping to form a Sustainability Club similar to the one in Upper School. In this club, students would come and speak about issues concerning them and be able to educate the community even more. 

Miss Caroline Feldman, a Middle School science teacher, says that “students have been great in reacting to the new efforts. They are generally concerned with...doing whatever they can to help promote sustainability in the Shipley community and their homes.” Mr. Sam Sheng, another science teacher in Middle School, adds that “oer the course of the four years that [he has] been at Shipley, one major shift in culture is the increased use of reusable water bottles and less waste in the printer overflow by the Science classrooms.” This is evidence of the effort put in by the middle school to cut back on waste and help our environment. Shipley is making huge strides in their efforts to become a greener, more sustainable campus, and over the next few years, our sustainability as a school and a community will only improve.