ShareThisKarel Brings Sustainability to VVS
Senior Karel Hines of Sedona has started a composting system for the school to reduce the school’s carbon footprint by building and maintaining worm bins.
VVS Senior Karel Hines
Senior Karel Hines of Sedona has started a composting system for the school to reduce the school’s carbon footprint by building and maintaining worm bins. Initially she hoped that in the long run, and with the cooperation of local farms, she could set up a trading system of worm castings for local produce. Her persistence in contacting numerous local farmers paid off and she’ll be trading compost this spring for fresh produce with a farmer in Camp Verde.
The composting project is Karel’s senior CAS project. CAS stands for Creativity, Action, and Service and is a requirement for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
She says she finds the whole concept of sustainable living to be very interesting - she wanted to use waste from the school and turn it into something that can be used again by her school community. She was inspired by the idea of sustainable living from Catrien van Assendelft’s project period two years ago that examined the modern food industry and local farmers.
Karel has had support from others too. Dave Dishon from maintenance built the composting boxes and Houda Elittar helped her paint them. Paul Hansen who had also shown an interest in composting for the school became Karel’s advisor for the project. The kitchen staff save compostable waste for her that she collects every day, and other faculty members bring their compostables to her bins as well.
Once the worms are removed sometime this spring, Karel expects that she’ll have around 15 lbs of compost to trade with the farmer in Camp Verde for basil and lettuce.
“I am really enjoying working on the composting because it is a service project that I designed and it’s an awesome feeling knowing that you are getting results from the hard work that you’re putting in,” says Karel.
There is another composting area at VVS. Catrien van Assendelft's back yard was turned into a VVS organic garden last spring during Project Period. Catrien uses a composting unit to build soil for the garden. The project inspired three girls to ask that their work jobs every Monday and Thursday be to help maintain the garden throughout the year. Pictured from left are VVS seniors Trang Ngyuen, Ali Maricich, and junior Rachel Lee who really enjoy the hard work they do to maintain the garden.
Gardening has become an important interest to Trang and Rachel who chose an organic farming experience for their Field Trip this fall. The project was called "Arizona Sustainable Farming" which was designed to introduce students to the world of organic and sustainable farming in Arizona. Students were exposed to the physical labor of maintaining a farm. They also gained an appreciation for understanding the sources of the food they consume. The students also learned how to start their own gardens, sustain them naturally, and maintain them through good environmental awareness for the future.
Rachel Lee was so inspired by her Project Period and Field Trip tht she went back to the organic farm where she served as a volunteer for her three-week winter break.
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