from little things...
...big things grow
Angela Olah
BSC Sustainability Club
The Sustainability Club, one of the many BSC cocurricular activities, is made up of a group of special students who work tirelessly within the school to improve Brunswick Secondary College’s environmental footprint. They use entrepreneurial skills to identify environmental issues and develop their own solutions.
The club has exceeded my expectations in terms of teamwork, mindset and work ethic; overall I am incredibly proud of the sustainability team and everyone who has supported their work. It has been wonderful to see the school community actively embracing the student-led initiatives which are designed to have a positive impact on our local environment and beyond.
The club has been extraordinarily busy this year but there are even bigger things to come! We have many more initiatives in the pipeline and with more volunteers we can achieve many great things. If anyone (students, staff or families) are interested in learning more or joining our small but powerful team, please contact Ms Olah via Compass.
Every LITTLE bit of help can make a BIG difference!
The Great BSC Bottle Top Drop
Students are thrilled to have collected well over 19,000 bottle tops for this project... but we are still counting so we will have to give you an update again!
Not only has this intiative had the immediate effects of preventing plastic impacting local water systems or ending up in landfill, it is also contributing to a wonderful recycling initiative. The collected bottle tops are being donated to Envision, a charity that recycles the plastic to create and provide prosthetic limbs for children in less economically developed countries!
The Sustainability Club has really driven this project and used it to increase awareness among students and staff around recycling issues. The team has been able to really motivate and engage the wider BSC community with this project and are commended for their efforts.
Envision ambassador, Sean Teer, will be visiting the school to meet the members of Sustainabiity Club as he is keen to support and show appreciation for their work - and all community members are invited. Sean will bring examples of the prosthetic limbs that have been made from recycled plastic and students will have the opportunity to inspect them closely. The BSC Sustainability Club is very proud to be supporting Envision's fabulous work and you can read more about Envision's work HERE.
Rubbish Analysis & Bin Use
The Sustainability Club looked at how we can make it easier for everyone to efficiently dispose of our rubbish. This involved analysis of the use of different bins - and YES, we had to get our hands dirty!
The data collected byt he club will ultimately be used to improve our waste management practices which in turn will reduce pollutants impacting our local ecosystem.
2019 Innovation Expo
The club played an integral role at the Year 7 Innovation Night as
students made the most of the opportunity to showcase their problem-solving and innovation skills by explaining their sustainability-based initiatives to a wide audience.
The team role modelled positive engagement with and potential futures pathways for the problem-solving skills developed through the Innovation Expo. They were able to successfully engage students, staff and parents alike with interactive displays!
Leadership & Social Entrepreneurship
During Term 2, the club has worked in partnership with Virtual Schools Victoria to develop their entrepreneurial and 21st century skills.
This has been a fantastic development and learning opportunity, mentoring the students through the entrepreneurial process from developing an idea, using systems thinking to refine and prototype the idea, and then effectively communicate the initiative to key stakeholders to make the project a reality. For example, we learned about creative design and innovative thinking through making ‘Trash Puppets’ (as seen in the photos).
The club is using our learning from this program to help to develop a sustainable school garden. We intend this to be an interactive space developed and owned by students in which they can invest and learn in sustainability initiatives at the school.
