As the school year winds down, I cannot help but think about all of the amazing projects and events that the Sprouts have taken part in. Out of everything that the we have done this year, the thing that stands out most to me is our sisterhood with the Brotes de Esperanza – a Roots & Shoots group that we helped to start as a way to put the Sprouts of Hope fund into action.
I remember the day we talked about recycling and the Brotes de Esperanza kids drew some really cool signs that they were going to use to remind people to recycle. We did something like that at King Open, too, when we were working on our Waste Free Lunch campaign.
I realized how special our bond with the Brotes has been in early May at the Roots & Shoots Youth Leadership Summit with Jane Goodall, when, after asked what about Roots & Shoots made me most proud, I answered confidently: “Knowing that in a few short years, the Brotes de Esperanza could be having this same conversation with Dr. Jane. Knowing that these smart, passionate kids are following in my footsteps.”
To me, being able to pass down the magic of Roots & Shoots - as a Sprout of Hope - is way more special than starting a composting program, writing a book, cleaning a river, or attending a leadership summit. Mentoring the Brotes has made me realize just how lucky I am to be a part of Roots & Shoots.
I am so proud to be a role model for young Roots & Shoots members. I know that our partnership and sisterhood with the Brotes will continue for a long time -- We are already planning for next year! It has been so much fun to join forces with the Brotes. As Ryunosuke Satoro once said, “Indivually, we are a drop. Together, we are an ocean.”
This May, after a long, tiring Roots & Shoots-filled spring, the Sprouts of Hope participated in yet another exciting event with Dr. Jane Goodall -- an event that took place at our school!
Dr. Jane Goodall came to King Open, the Sprouts of Hope greeted her outside and showed her the murals the King Open community has painted. (You can see Risa with Dr. Jane in this photograph.) One of them is about immigrants who've come to Cambridge; the two other ones are at our school’s entrance. One is a replica of the Sistine Chapel, but with people from King Open painted on it, and the other shows Dr. Martin Luther King, with our school's name on it, too.
Then Dr. Jane went into the auditorium, where she greeted students with a pant hoot. Kids responded and it seemed like they were having a lot of fun.
She came to our school to congratulate us on a very successful year of composting. King Open’s composting program, which the Sprouts of Hope helped to start a little over a year ago, has saved more than 13,000 pounds of food waste that otherwise would’ve been dumped into a landfill!
Dr. Jane not only congratulated students at King Open for saving the planet, but she also came to our school to spread the word about composting. At the whole-school assembly where she spoke, she encouraged other schools to start composting – and since the mayor of Cambridge, the superintendent of schools, and some school committee members were at the assembly, we are hoping that her message (and ours!) will make a difference.
At the assembly, Dr. Jane spoke a little bit about her life, as well as the Jane Goodall Institute, Tacare, and Roots & Shoots. She encouraged students to get involved. Her message to us was that simple things – like composting our school lunches – make a difference. As she always says: “Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference!”
Four students – ranging from kindergarden to fourth grade – demonstrated for Dr. Jane how composting works in our cafeteria. It was a fun to watch, even though the kids got in the wrong order and some compost went in the trash!
Our science teacher, Donna Peruzzi, led the Q & A with Jane Goodall. Microphones were passed through the crowd and kids asked questions such as “What do chimpanzees eat?"
It was really special to have Dr. Jane come to King Open. Here is what Anne Driscoll wrote about her visit to our school in Tonic.com:
"The five girls who belong to Sprouts of Hope Roots & Shoots group had lobbied the Cambridge School Committee and the school superintendent to create a conservation plan and install special composting bins in the King Open School cafeteria. The group hopes to expand the program and replicate it at other schools.
In addition to the six and a half tons of garbage saved from a landfill, their composting program also prevented the release of additional methane gas, which becomes 70 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a green house gas. Besides, Goodall says it's the small efforts now that pay off big dividends later.
"You can't expect a child to suddenly become involved in everything," Goodall was quoted as telling the King Open students. "You have to start somewhere."
We gave Dr. Jane a King Open shirt. We hope she remembers her visit at our school as much as we remember having her with us that day. It meant so much to us that she took time from her busy schedule to come to King Open and congratulate us on our efforts to compost.
To read more about Dr. Jane's visit to our school, you can click on these links:
Outstanding Roots & Shoots Group in New England, 2009 and 2008, 2010 Award for Most Active Roots & Shoots Group
The Sprouts of Hope: Who Are We?
We are the Sprouts of Hope, a Cambridge (MA)-based Roots and Shoots group, part of a youth-focused organization founded by Jane Goodall. (www.rootsandshoots.org) We get involved with environmental issues in our school and community. On this blog, we describe our activites and share what we learn from our experiences. We hope you will add to our blog with your comments about what you are doing in your community and offer us feedback and ideas about our projects. We want to learn from you as you learn from us. Risa, Lilly, Eliza, Maya, Kaya.
If you want to contact us, please send an e-mail to Melissa at melissa.ludtke@gmail.com
The Sprouts of Hope Fund
To give ALLkids a chance to experience Roots and Shoots, we donated money we raised in a yardsale we organized in May 2008. With our contribution, the New England chapter started this fund to help pay the membership fee ($50.00 per year) and provide other support to families and kids who want to start a Roots & Shoots group but don't have the necessary funds. Since the fall of 2008, there have been 17 Roots & Shoots groups created with the help of this fund.
We hope you'll donate to The Sprouts of Hope Fund. Here is a way to do so on the Web:
http://tinyurl.com/mly2b3
Or you can specify this fund and send your donation to:
Roots & Shoots New England 89 South Street LL Boston, MA 02111 617-439-9090
We wrote these words when we made our donation:
“We think that Roots & Shoots is an amazing program that enables kids all over the world to make a difference and help make the world a better place. As part of our group’s personal effort to help make the world a better place, we would like to make a contribution…so that other kids will be able to join Roots & Shoots too. Thank you for inspiring so many people, including us, to make a difference.” Risa, Lilly, Eliza, Maya, and Kaya The Sprouts of Hope
Sprouts of Hope: GoGreen Recognition
May 2008: Cambridge honors green businesses
Children belonging to Sprouts of Hope, which is part of the worldwide Roots & Shoots program founded by Dr. Jane Goodall, were also recognized at the annual GoGreen Awards ceremony held at the Cambridge City Hall annex. They went before the Cambridge School Committee last October to request that the schools stop using polystyrene lunch trays, sparking an ongoing investigation into alternatives. The Sprouts organized a waste-free lunch day in the schools as well. (Cambridge Chronicle and Cambridge Tab: 5/27/2008)
Information about the GoGreen Awards can be found here:
