Burlington ON – In acknowledging “change starts small”, Notre Dame Secondary School, Burlington, has been named the winner of a $1000 prize awarded by Burlington Mall through its Student ecoHero program.
In addition to presenting the $1000 prize to the Environmental Club at Notre Dame Secondary School, Burlington Mall management staff will spend two hours helping students clean up their school yard and dispose of the litter, from 10 am – noon on Earth Day next Wednesday, April 22.
Burlington Mall’s Student ecoHero program challenged local high schools to come up with a community clean-up idea to commemorate Earth Day on April 22, give reasons for helping out their school, and identify a school program which could benefit from the $1000 prize.
“We want to commend the energy and intentions of all the students who participated in the Student ecoHero program,” said Kim LaRonde, Director of Marketing, Burlington Mall, in announcing Notre Dame Secondary School as the winner.
“We chose Notre Dame because Burlington Mall’s ‘ecoHero’ program is just one of the many programs they are getting behind this year. They have an established eco culture at their school through their Environmental Club, their cell phone project and promoting the use of refillable water bottles,” she said.
“This is very much in line with the ‘One Simple Thing’ concept that is the foundation of Burlington Mall’s ecoHero programs,” explained LaRonde.
Through its ecoHero programs, Burlington Mall encourages people to recognize the environmental impact of everyone doing just ‘one simple thing’, on a day-to-day basis, to live in a more earth friendly way.
“We also really liked that their whole school seems to have adopted this eco mind-set, setting an example for future students at this school and other schools,” LaRonde added.
The winning submission was received from Zofia Smeja, a member of the Environmental Club at Notre Dame Secondary School.
In explaining the Environmental Club’s Earth Day project, to clean up the school yard at Notre Dame Secondary School, Smeja wrote, “While our spirit is shining bright, it is regrettable that quite conversely; our school yard is looking rather dull.”
She clarified the Club’s intent by writing, “If we were selected to participate in the ecoHero clean up, our efforts would start right in our own back yard. As members of the Environmental Club, we want our peers to be conscious of their environmental impact. While we have been working in high gear to run green projects like cell phone recycling and a campaign to steer students away from bottled water and towards the tap (selling reusable bottles), our message may be clouded by the mess that surrounds our school.”
“Change starts small,” she added “so if students can learn to respect a school yard, they will eventually learn to respect all of the Earth.”
The $1000 prize awarded to Notre Dame Secondary School will go towards a project already begun by the school’s horticultural students. This is to revitalize area from which portable classrooms were recently removed, which is currently “a barren mass of mud”, and create an attractive green space for students. The plan is to bring this area back to life by planting trees and gardens and creating sitting areas for students.
While the practical outcomes of this project are self-evident, Smeja added that there would be a significant ongoing benefit realized by having students create this green space.
“Most importantly,” she wrote, “it would be forever linked to the efforts of students participating in the clean up: a reminder for future generations to take care of the environment.”
For further information on Burlington Mall’s Earth Day clean up at Notre Dame Secondary School, 2333 Headon Forest Drive, Burlington, contact Kim LaRonde, Director of Marketing, Burlington Mall, (905) 632-4777 ext. 23 or email klaronde@ivanhoecambridge.com.
Burlington Mall is located at the intersection of Guelph Line and Fairview Street, just south of the QEW in Burlington. For further information call, visit www.burlingtonmall.com or email info@burlingtonmall.com.
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