LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
It may take a village to raise a child, but five students at Lackland Elementary School have a few things to teach their village about environmental citizenship.
Armed with a determined attitude, a willingness to work and a desire to make the world a better place, Mission Green members are out to change the world.
"They're not afraid to get dirty and they're growing up with a very keen sense that what they do matters," said Pam Torre, Mission Green sponsor who teaches sixth grade language arts and social studies at the school. "We recycle as much as we can all the time."
Mrs. Torre said the group goes to the classrooms to pick up plastic bottles and paper for recycling, and works with the base recycling program. In addition to recycling, the students maintain a green habitat at the school.
Mission Green meets every Friday after school for 45 minutes to clean the habitat, picking up trash, pulling weeds and feeding the fish in their pond. There are also bird feeders in the habitat, and when the weather warms they will be adding flowers.
"The purpose of the habitat is to bring nature up close and personal to the kids," said Mrs. Torre. "We try to leave things in a natural state so the kids can see how plants grow in our neck of the woods. Of course, the fish are an element of water, another resource we use and protect.
"And I've noticed they're picking up trash they see around campus with a lot more frequency than they used to," she added.
Mrs. Torre said donations of plants, birdseed, mulch, fertilizer, fish food, water conditioner or cash for the habitat are welcome. Mission Green is also looking to partner with a squadron, flight or duty section to work on the habitat.
"This habitat is the future," Mrs. Torre said. "The kids enjoy growing the simplest of things."
The group was formed in October and is open to all Lackland Elementary students in grades three through six. Mrs. Torre has a parent volunteer, Kimberly Peek, who assists her with the children.
"The Lackland ISD policy this year is to embrace the concept of renewable resources and energy conservation," said Mrs. Torre. "I was asked by Mrs. Norton (Lackland Elementary principal) to organize a green team using elementary students to give them the mindset that they are stewards of the Earth, and they are inheriting the idea of renew, reuse and recycle.
"By the time they grow up and have children of their own, renewing, reusing and recycling will be a part of their daily lives."
The students - Meryl Belisario, Destany Aguilar, Nate Peek, Tyler Clements and Mitzi Savell - all agree that doing their part is important.
"I wanted to do this because I wanted to help the Earth be a better place to live so future generations have a nice place," said Meryl, a sixth grader.
Added Nate, also in the sixth grade, "I just enjoy environmental activities and helping the environment. I don't enjoy global warming at all; it's really good to stop it."
And with that, these students are telling the village how they want to be raised.