Junior HELPers Saving the Environment

The program began at , and has since been recreated at —for the junior league.

Hamilton fourth grade teacher Dawn Eisele is co-advisor for the Hamilton Junior H.E.L.P League, an organization that is all about helping the environment.

And it began, Eisele said, at Hillside.

“I worked at Hillside and was involved with the H.E.L.P Squad, and when the schools were reconfigured in 2007, I wanted to remain in fourth grade so I moved to Hamilton,” she said. “I enjoyed the program at Hillside and wanted to continue it.”

“That is why I decided to start a recycling committee based on what we did at Hillside,” she added.

And that was the start of the Junior H.E.L.P Squad, which does many of the same work as the squad in Hillside, only with younger students.

Members of the club presented their work to the board of education at the Jan. 10 meeting.

According to the students, the name of the club spells out the acronym for “Hamilton Environmental Leaders Protectors.” And because the Hillside Intermediate School group is the original squad, the Hamilton students are part of the junior squad.

“The students learn how and what they can do to help the environment through activities like making biodegradable bird feeders, discussions, videos and action plans,” said Eisele, who, since last year, has co-advised the group with teacher Amy MacMath.

Eisele said the students have put together videos about how others have helped the environment, and created action plans for recognizing Earth Day and other important events.

This year, Eisele said, there are 48 members of the club, but that varies year to year, having grown in the 2011-2012 school year from 25 the year before.

“It is only open to fourth graders,” she said. “Any student in fourth grade that would like to join is accepted into the squad.”

As part of the club, Eisele said, they focus on recycling, turning off lights, disposing of trash in proper receptacles, composting and reducing waste as best as possible.

“One year, the squad performed skits during lunch for all the students to teach them about recycling, saving energy and composting,” she said. “Another year, the spring concert was all about recycling with all the songs and the skit they performed in between the songs.”

Eisele said the students also held a contest once to find a design for the club—the winning one was put on t-shirts for all the fourth grade students.

Among the work they do, the students said at the presentation, is monitor classrooms to make sure people are saving energy, hold assemblies about recycling, reuse paper and other methods of helping the environment.

“We are a group of kids who devote time to help save the planet,” they said, before handing out recycled pencils with their logos.

Eisele said she believes the students get a lot out of being part of the group, and she enjoys seeing what they bring to the program.

“I love working with the students, their ideas and excitement is never-ending,” she said. “They never stop amazing me with their great ideas and enthusiasm about each and every activity we do.”

“I also am proud to know that they are taking away a better understanding of the importance of the environment and what we can do to help,” she added.