Whidbey Island Robotics Club

In 2015, our FLL team at Broadview Elementary School turned their season's project into a school-wide initiative to reduce waste. Starting from the season's Trash Trek theme, our team worked with their school to start a composting program for the cafeteria's food waste. That composting program caught on, and they soon had the beginnings of a school Learning Garden.

 

Over the next few years, the garden continued to grow, and we brought in our high school members to help build additional facilities such as a garden shed and a kiosk that encouraged outdoor learning and environmental education. By July 2018, Broadview Elementary School, led by the teacher who had mentored that Trash Trek team, was name a Green Star School, and they were nationally recognized with a Green Ribbon award.

 

This project continues to expand district-wide, and due to our efforts, all of our local schools are becoming greener. The next project, in coordination with both the high school robotics team and ecology club is to create a garden at Hillcrest Elementary School that is accessible to neurodiverse students and students in wheelchairs.