Energize: Leamington District SS

The Ontario Ministry of Energy is a proud partner of Ontario EcoSchools. Together, we are encouraging schools to practice energy conservation and reduce their environmental footprint, and highlighting stories of exceptional student leadership across the province.

On the first day of school in September 2013, Carlos Pena Vallecillo, a grade 10 student, arrived in Lisa Jeffery’s Science class and said, “Didn’t we used to be an EcoSchool? Let’s get it going again.”

Carlos’ observation was true: while Leamington District Secondary School in Greater Essex County DSB had participated in the Ontario EcoSchools certification program since 2008, EcoTeam participation had dropped off in 2012-13.

To reignite interest, Carlos recruited two friends to join the school EcoTeam. At first, the team concentrated on building environmental awareness within the school. They wanted students to understand how to make a difference, so the team conducted energy and waste audits and shared the results with the whole school — including the fact that it would take planting 31 trees just to offset the lighting needs of a single student for one year.

Then Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) added an incentive by agreeing to give schools 25 per cent of their energy savings from January to June. The EcoTeam labelled light switches and computers, reminding people to switch off, and within one year, the school saved enough to buy every student a stainless steel water bottle and install a water filtration station.

The following year the savings grew and EcoTeam will use these savings to build an outdoor classroom at their new school, scheduled to open in September 2017.

As environmental awareness at the school grew, more students joined the EcoTeam and the group moved beyond the school walls to address issues in the broader community. The team decided to focus on harmful algal blooms as part of the Experienced EcoSchools Certification Cycle.

As part of studying the issue, the school reached out to the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA), which sent two guest speakers to Lisa Jeffery’s classroom. One of them, Water Quality Scientist Dr. Katie Stammler, became the team’s go-to expert — and ERCA became the EcoTeam’s partner as it launched the  “Algaecation“ Campaign to raise awareness of a harmful algal bloom problem in Lake Erie and to protect wetlands at Hillman Marsh Conservation Area.

Ultimately, this campaign was so successful that it received TV, radio and print coverage and caught the attention of David Suzuki, who paid the EcoTeam a visit. Stammler says, “Through their Algaecation outreach efforts, their Blue-Green Algae forum and their continued efforts to engage the community around the protection and restoration of our lake, these students are truly making a difference. We are proud to support and continue to work with them.”

The EcoTeam is also helping Point Pelee National Park improve youth programming. Park staff consulted with the EcoTeam about new facilities, and now, future conservation projects, field trips, EcoTeam retreats and camping expeditions will take place using these facilities starting next year.

In 2015, the LDSS EcoTeam extended its reach to the world stage, when it campaigned to encourage Canada’s new leaders to set strong targets at the COP21 Climate Change Conference in Paris. The school ran a Twitter campaign, created posters, participated in a rally, and produced several videos that they sent to the Paris delegation. Their campaign achieved a major result when Federal Minister of the Environment & Climate Change Catherine McKenna showed one of their videos at a stakeholder meeting and tweeted about it.

Today, LDSS’s EcoTeam has around 40 active members, and more students volunteer for special events. Lisa Jeffery says, “EcoTeam has become cool and we have Carlos to thank for that. We had 15 new Grade 9 members who signed up in the summer at Grade 9 orientation – they weren’t even officially LDSS students yet. They are also very dedicated. One Saturday during March Break I had 12 EcoTeam members show up at 9 am for a full day training workshop to learn how to monitor the amphibian species at our local wetland. Now that’s commitment to the cause!”