When Kate Talano launched her week-long sustainability challenge for fellow students in honor of Earth Day, she said she imagined a handful of kids getting moderately excited and maybe sticking a note to a bin that says “recycle.” 

 But what started as a class project has grown into a competition that has students building solar panel microwaves and recycling bins made out of recyclable materials, and desiging window pulley systems for plants.

Talano is a junior at Seacrest Country Day School. In honor of Earth Day this year, Talano’s health teacher, Christin Palumbo, challenged her to create a week-long curriculum to teach middle school students about sustainability.

So Talano created a competition in which the middle schoolers are divided into nine groups to compete in activities such as “greenifying” their classrooms and building recycle bins for the school. The students are awarded “green points” based on how sustainable their ideas are. 

Last semester, Talano attended Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki as a part of a select group of high school juniors studying environmental issues while working on and living off the land in Maine. 

“We explored the relationship between humans and the natural world,” Talano said. 

After returning to Naples this semester, Talano wanted to share what she had learned about sustainability. 

“This experience was life changing for me and inspired me to give back to my local community,” she said. “I have dedicated my time in trying to educate and inspire others about the importance of sustainability.” 

This semester at Seacrest, Talano has started a sustainability club called “Green Team,” and made presentations to other students about why it matters to be green. She will be co-teaching an environmental issues class next year.