Past projects 6
Future Farmers of the City
Funded Oct 25, 2024It's been wonderful having these materials for our school's sustainability club. Our members were so excited to grow mushrooms and were amazed by how easily and quickly it happened. They were also inspired to try and build a larger set up to grow more mushrooms at once, so that's the next project there. Similarly the Aerogarden that we got has tomato plants over a foot tall (but we haven't harvested them yet).
The plants all growing in the back of the room have inspired some other students who aren't in our club and helped develop interest in our club. We traveled to Governors Island to visit the Billion Oyster Project and learn what they are doing with sustainable aquaculture which is very inspiring. On the same trip we also visited New York Harbor School to see the Marine Biology Research program where they are sustainably growing tilapia in their classroom, very impressive and inspiring.
With our program meeting at lunch being able to provide snacks to the students is really important, so those are valuable materials as well! Thank you everyone for supporting my students!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Polite
The Sustainability Club Takes Off
Funded Oct 22, 2024Thank you so much for contributing snacks and poster making supplies to the sustainability club. A student reached out over the summer to me asking me to support the founding of this club and I was honored to help her. Because the only time we could meet was during lunch, it was great to give students something to snack on, asking teenagers to give up their lunch break is a big request!
We made posters using the materials, are were able to recruit over 20 students to the club. We have been doing great projects, growing tomatoes in the classroom and learning about being self sustaining with food. We've gone on a field trip to visit the Billion Oyster Project to learn about their project to clean the water of New York Harbor. We've also partnered with the National Honor's Society to start a recycling program to return bottles and cans to raise money and keep them out of landfills. Thank you for your help. We couldn't do it without you.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Polite
This classroom project was brought to life by Con Edison and 7 other donors.Botanists in the Classroom
Funded Dec 29, 2024Thank you so much for contributing to the sustainability club! This year our school is low on money and doesn’t have the resources we would usually have. Plus the enrollment of the club is huge with 10% of the school active participants. Thank you for enabling us to do this botany project to grow food and flowers for our community.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Polite
This classroom project was brought to life by Con Edison and 6 other donors.Supporting Fitness in the Classroom
Funded Feb 9, 2017Thank you so much for contributing to my classroom. Despite limited gym space I was able to add fitness to my class and use exercise as part of my science curriculum. Students were excited to research ways that they could measure the impact of lifting and designed some really engaging projects around it. A diverse group of girls created an experiment lasting weeks measuring the impact of using heavy weights vs light weights to build endurance and engaged a great number of students across grades as well as faculty to be participants in their research.
Teaching in NYC space is often an issue. Just being able to do exercise within the classroom when we don't have access to a gym or to a safe place to be outside is fantastic. It was a wonderful and lasting contribution to my school community and for that I am extremely grateful!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Polite
Convection Oven to Prepare Healthy Meals
Funded Dec 7, 2016Thank you so much for providing the convection ovens for my classroom. They were a wonderful way for students to learn about nutrition and bond over food. Kids made asparagus, other roasted veggies, frittatas and on one student's birthday some cookies. Mostly we were able to learn about healthy options we can make at home ourselves. The students were able to feel empowered to have greater control over the food they eat and how it was prepared. I'm excited to continue to use these ovens in future classes, as next year I'll be teaching a health unit in my homeroom and it will be a great resource. As a vegetarian with a taste for a variety of foods I bring in a lot that is new and unfamiliar to the students. They ask me to try it and now they can make it themselves!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Polite
How Safe Is Our Water?
Funded May 4, 2016Thank you so much for the water pollution kit. My students used these kits to do their PBAT projects. PBAT projects are where students create, design, and conduct an experiment, then write up the results and present it to a panel of scientists and teachers. It is a challenging experience made more informative and enjoyable through the materials you provided.
A number of students did experiments around the cleanliness of drinking water and its effect on living organisms. We studied the effect of lead in water inspired by the events in Flint. Additionally we looked at the Superfund sites of New York City to inspire students to see how environmental science issues relate to their lives. Students used the kits to test the effect of pollutants on the growth of pea plants and the success of worms in soil when exposed to Round-Up, among other self-directed experiments.
Kids loved that using the kit was 'like doing real science' and made them feel like 'real scientists in a lab, ya know?' to quote them verbatim. What's cool about the kit is that there are resources for another course and it is refillable so this is a gift that keeps on giving and will be able to be used in future semesters. B____ who is shown holding up the box in the picture had an idea for a lab that he said, 'we couldn't do though' but actually because of the kit we actually had the materials to do it! Thanks everyone who helped. Know that your generosity truly helps people.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Polite
This classroom project was brought to life by Orkin and 4 other donors.