Getting Ready at Our Local R&S Elementary School
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Under the Poplar: Issue 1, 2012 Pg. 6 Pg. 12 Pg. 13 Pg. 15 finishes with teaching environmental lessons Getting Ready at our local R&S elementary school. Everyone is expected to be thoroughly March is upon us already, exhausted at this point- just in time for the which can only mean one thing- journey home! it’s time to start thinking about planting those trees! The Roots Trees are generally planted in the month of & Shoots team is saying goodbye April because of the weather requirements for to humid Shanghai, and hello to the delicate saplings. The temperature needs sunny Kulun Qi! Beginning on to be approximately 10°C with winds no more th April 9 , the members of Roots & than 10km/h, just after the winter thaw has Shoots will be running back and left a moist topsoil. The saplings are very forth to meet new groups fragile, and otherwise may not survive infancy. travelling north to help plant the The window to grow healthy, strong trees trees. This year we have thirty relies very heavily on encountering good two confirmed business and conditions during the spring season. school groups! The 2012’s planting trip will include a new Meeting at the Shanghai airport, experience- this is the first year we will be participants will fly to Shenyang planting two different tree species together! together with staff, after which While in the past we have experimented with there will be a five-hour bus ride Yellowhorn and Pine trees in the area, never from the airport to our small before have we planted them together in the town of Kulun (at the eastern tip same plot of land! Always aiming to expand, of Inner Mongolia). The stay will develop, and grow, the goal of diversifying include a traditional Mongolian our biodiversity (with local forestry expert ceremony, courtesy of our hotel consultation) is to create the healthiest and partners, and a hearty Mongolian strongest forest possible. We wish our tree- breakfast (think buckwheat, planters well and good-luck on their way to yogurt, and cheese). The opening Inner Mongolia! welcomes will be followed by two full days of desert-exploring, tree- Does this sound interesting? Contact visit planting with the local farmers www.mtpchina.org for more information on under the Mongolian sun, and how to get involved! 1 Under the Poplar: Issue 1, 2012 2 Under the Poplar: Issue 1, 2012 Rainbow Bridge International Other creative initiatives from the Green Club School Update: this semester included DVD sales from their winter concert, recycled books, and a raffle. We began following one school in their 1,000 One of the most popular activities among the tree Challenge at the beginning of September. staff has been the students’ idea to create an Rainbow Bridge International School (RBIS), area for teachers to leave reusable items (ex. situated inside the Shanghai Zoo and comprised cereal boxes, water bottles, etc.) that other of grades K-6, has officially doubled our teachers could use for other class projects. challenge! The students and community have They even held an assembly and used skits to raised a forest of 2,000 trees in seven months, teach the school how to use the area! and will now send two representatives to plant and report on the progress in the area. How did the Green Club manage such great success? Constant participation and enthusiasm! RBIS students and representatives have been continuously doing their own programs and joining ours throughout the year! Here is a brief look: Jennifer Vaughn, teacher-leader of the Green st Club, attended our 1 International Youth And finally, they can be found at this year’s th Summit on February 25 , meeting teachers and ROCK! For Roots & Shoots selling their students from 14 other International School specialized merchandise for trees. Not only will R&S clubs, learning about successful fundraising. one of their teachers be performing on-stage, She especially enjoyed “listening to [keynote but the students are organizing themselves to speaker, student activist NGO creator] Adam sell RBIS Million Tree T-shirts, handmade Hall…because he found a way to make his voice bracelets, and other fun souvenirs! They are heard about an environmental issue he is graciously donating all proceeds from their passionate about.” booth to the rock forest of the evening. Also, two of this semester’s biggest fundraisers RBIS’ forest will be planted during the second included the great soccer tournament which week of April in Kulun Qi, Inner Mongolia. had teachers and students squaring-off, and the Teachers Jennifer and Franco Rodriguez will be highly-successful Read-a-thon which raised the hardworking planter-delegates, sharing 15,000 RMB for RBIS kids dedicating time to their experiences with their primary students books! Students for the school-wide read-a- upon return. Looking into the future, there are thon collected donations on a per-minute-basis, only words of hope from Jennifer. “Now that with the top reader reading for over 80 hours in we’ve been through this [once], we want to two weeks! They incorporated fun learning and make it even better next year!” environmental passion with this activity. 3 Under the Poplar: Issue 1, 2012 …and in other school news… Thanks a Million Our successful 1,000 Tree Participants for 2012 include: Shanghai American School (SAS) Puxi ES Shanghai American School (SAS) Pudong Shanghai American School (SAS) Puxi HS Rainbow Bridge International School (RBIS) Shanghai Korean School China European International Business School Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company Private School (SMIC) Shangde Experimental School Shanghai High School International Division Utahloy International School Yew Chung International School (YCIS) Gubei Yew Chung International School (YCIS) Pudong All together this year our schools have helped us raise over 15,000 trees for the fight against the desert in China. Each new successful school will http://shanghai.talkmagazines.cn/issue/2012-02/young- receive a plaque and a sticker. These will be achiever-edwin-zen Full article accumulated each year until the completion of Edwin Zen, President of Shanghai American our forest in 2014! Keep up the good work! School (Pudong)’s Roots & Shoots club has been featured as Shanghai Talk!’s “Young Achiever” in Also, a special mention to all of our participating February. Edwin talks about his involvement in schools this year: R&S at school, organizing 50-70 members to do Brookwood Elementary School U.S.A., Concordia projects such as composting with the cafeteria, International School Shanghai, Emma Willard organic gardening, a recycling project which Private School U.S.A, Nanjing Jinling High School, earns money for their club, and their carbon- Shanghai Community International School offset program for school-related travel. Even (Hongqiao), Shanghai Singapore School , with his busy schedule, Edwin will take time to Shanghai United International School (Shangyin come planting in Inner Mongolia with the MTP Campus), and Suzhou Singapore School following the success of 3,200 trees donated for Young Achiever Award this year’s 1,000 Tree Challenge! Congratulations Edwin! 4 Under the Poplar: Issue 1, 2012 Shanghai Roots & Shoots’ First inspired participants to try the varied programs International School Summit, a Huge available or create their own. Success! The Summit also featured R & S club photos, By Kathleen Kelly ROCK! For Roots & Shoots ticket sales, a display of R & S merchandise available to sell as On Saturday February 25, 2012 over 130 members fundraisers, and an organic juice tasting and market and teacher advisers from fifteen Shanghai Roots & research station. One of the goals of the daylong Shoots clubs in International Schools attended the event was to provide students from different first International School Summit. The theme of the international schools in Shanghai the opportunity to day was “Achieving Sustainable Change by using meet each other and share ideas for club activities. your Passion.” Pictures of penguins and the purple theme color reminded participants that change is more likely to become reality when those involved are passionate about the change. Keynote speaker Adam Hall described his experience as a student activist when he created a foundation called Moonwalk for Earth. www.moonwalkforearth.com. The goal of Moonwalk for Earth was to raise awareness about the need for sustainable energy sources. Adam demonstrated his style of moonwalking which earned him a place in A special double workshop session was conducted the Guinness by George Kaye of ARTSpring and guest artist Book of World Jianwei Fong. Student participants created symbols Records and a for their own ecovalues, painting them on rice paper TV pilot for using Chinese brush MTV. Adam and ink. These will urged his now be combined with audience to original art created by focus on the other organizations in positive aspects of change and to build interest and Shanghai and commitment by providing activities which are fun displayed at the spring and motivational as well as educational. 2012 Eco Design Fair, to be held on April 14 Fifteen workshops provided concrete information from 10:00 to 17:00 at about Roots & Shoots resources including the three the Cool Docks, 505 web sites, membership guidelines, the Million Tree Zhongshan South Project, Eco-audit Program, recycling in Shanghai Road. and Organic Garden and Worm Farm programs. Workshops were led by R & S staff, consultants, R The afternoon closing session featured an interview & S club teacher advisers and student leaders who by Tori Zwisler, founder of Shanghai R & S, with Shanghai entrepreneur Teoman Alemdar who 5 Under the Poplar: Issue 1, 2012 donated the 100% organic juice for tasting at lunch. Special thanks to the leaders and staff of Shanghai Teoman has modeled leadership in fundraising for Community International School, (SCIS) Hongqiao charity by using his personal celebrations of campus who provided the space for this event to be birthdays, wedding and birth of a child as held.