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S3 E16 - OMS Green Team · Inside the OSD

• 0:05
  SPEAKER1: The Oregon School District has a proud history of using environmentally sustainable practices and helping our students understand the importance of
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  being environmentally responsible citizens.
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  This is integrated into learning opportunities both in and outside of the classroom.
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  Today, we're talking with students from our middle school green team and their advisor,
• 0:26
  Nate Mahr, a longtime OSD educator.
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  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
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  Here is your host, lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
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  SPEAKER3: We'll begin with our students. Let's start by having each of you introduce yourself to our listeners.
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  SPEAKER4: My name is Liam Pepoy, and I'm in eighth grade.
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  SPEAKER5: My name is Isaac Van Heuklon, and I'm also an eighth grader.
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  SPEAKER6: My name is Makenna Wallace, and I'm in seventh grade.
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  My name is Kenley Dinkins and I'm in seventh grade.
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  Great. Thank you all.
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  SPEAKER3: So everyone here is a part of the OMS Green Team.
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  Tell us a little bit about what this team does.
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  SPEAKER5: So every meeting, once a week, we go outside and we do something to help the environment.
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  We could we take invasive plants out of the woods.
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  We pull weeds, plant stuff around the side of the school.
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  Native plants, that kind of
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  SPEAKER6: thing.
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  SPEAKER3: That sounds super active. And you have a pretty big group.
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  It's not just the four of you that are here. There are quite a few students who are a part of this group,
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  the Green Team. Does anybody else have anything to add to what Isaac shared?
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  SPEAKER4: We meet once a week every Tuesday.
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  SPEAKER6: Thank you. And we also--we aren't just like working.
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  We are also having fun.
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  SPEAKER3: That's really important too, right? Because you are creating--you're creating a community that cares about the same things.
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  So that's a really important part of the whole process.
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  All right. Next, why is it important to you to be a part of this team?
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  SPEAKER5: I like helping back and giving back to the environment.
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  When you pull out the invasive plants. My science teacher, Mr.
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  Mahr, was saying the woods looked a lot better than it was ten years ago.
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  And part of that was with the Green Team helping restore that.
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  And it makes the school look better than the previous year.
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  And it helps the environment.
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  SPEAKER6: And it also helps shape our next generation better.
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  Because if you don't learn this stuff now, then a lot of times you won't be willing to learn it later.
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  SPEAKER3: Oh, thank you for that. And I'll also ask all of you to give me something specific about what is it that you're learning that you know you'll carry
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  forward, right? Like, whether it's in the Green Team or it's in your science class about environmental sustainability.
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  What are the things that you know you'll remember years from now?
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  SPEAKER6: Well, I think that from pulling out invasive species, I'll always know like which one's garlic mustard and which ones to pull out.
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  SPEAKER3: That's--that's really good because I know that I would have a hard time identifying that.
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  So I love that you can identify that already because you're--you're in a club, you're spending your extra time doing that.
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  Now, our two eighth graders, you pulled a lot of honeysuckle at Lerner Park, right?
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  Yes. Um, is there anything else that you think that you've really learned from being in this club or from eighth grade science?
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  SPEAKER5: Uh, we've learned a lot about climate change.
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  Yeah. Um, like, how to, like, mitigate the effects from it.
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  How to slow it down, how to stop polluting the air, that kind of thing.
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  In science class. And it's really helpful.
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  So when we're adults, we can make the choices to help the environment.
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  SPEAKER3: Oh that's great. Anybody want to add to that?
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  SPEAKER6: Well we haven't really, well, I'm not in eighth grade, but we've learned like we've--in here and in science class,
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  we've planted native plants. And so we've learned how--the importance of having those in our environment.
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  SPEAKER3: Yes, yes. And you're a Forest Edge graduate, correct?
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  SPEAKER6: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER3: What was it you learned from being a Forest Edge student about sustainability?
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  SPEAKER6: Um, that they are a net zero school, so they have, uh, geothermal heating and cooling as well as solar panels.
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  SPEAKER3: Absolutely. And I think you had a really good question about our future.
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  SPEAKER5: Um, it's a new, uh, middle school. Is that going to be net zero?
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  Like, um--
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  SPEAKER3: That's a great question. And we don't know when we will build a new middle school.
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  It always will depend on how many new students move into our district, because you can't build a school until you have a lot of new students,
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  right? But when we do in the future decide to build, I hope the community supports it being net zero,
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  because you've already heard how much people learn from being in a building that has environmental sustainability at its core.
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  And it's much easier to build a building that way than it is to have older buildings and try to make them that way.
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  It's a lot more expensive to try to make an older building into a net zero than it is to build a new building in that way.
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  SPEAKER6: Do you know why that is?
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  SPEAKER3: Good question. It's a lot of it is because of the way our older buildings are designed.
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  And a lot of it needs to be redone and torn out in order to create new systems.
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  And that can just get expensive. And it might be less than building a whole new building.
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  Don't get me wrong, but it still can be a very expensive process.
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  However, we have a very climate--Um, what would you say?
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  A community that really supports doing good things for the environment?
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  And so I think the Oregon School District in general is pretty lucky to have all of the people who live here who support environmental practices and to have
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  students like you who come in after school to do things like plant native plants and pull invasive species.
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  That's amazing. And we all owe you a big debt of gratitude.
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  Now, I'd like to turn to our educator. Could you start by introducing yourself to our listeners and your role in the OSD?
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  SPEAKER7: Yeah, this is Nathan Mahr. I am an eighth grade science teacher and I am the Green Team advisor.
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  SPEAKER3: Well, we've just heard from our students about the Green Team opportunity.
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  And this is really a part of a larger picture with respect to sustainability.
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  Can you talk about some of the other many ways that students are learning about sustainability inside and outside of the classroom?
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  SPEAKER7: Yeah, we try to connect--What we do in our Green Team is an extension of what we do in our science and our STEM classes,
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  and we're just introducing the students to all the possibilities and to get hands on with things that they can do to make a difference.
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  I mean, overall, the goal one ties back to, um, to human impacts on the planet.
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  And ultimately, you know, the goal is not to save the planet.
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  The planet is going to be here whether humans are here or not.
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  But we know as a species, it's nice to know that, that we're doing some things that we can't continue to do the same way,
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  and we're going to have to probably do some.
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  We definitely have to be stewards, as you know, the native peoples that have been here since long before European settlers moved
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  into the Oregon area, that you have to steward the land, take care of it so that it can take care of you.
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  So students, just learning about some of our our restorations, both in the woods at Lerner Park,
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  they do those things within their science classes.
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  SPEAKER3: Um, and not just learning about it, but taking part in it.
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  SPEAKER7: Yeah, they're doing it. They're part of that, that community service, that piece of stewarding the land. And then,
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  uh, and also with our landscape, you know, having our school grounds look nice and be functional is important.
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  So they help with our our native landscaping.
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  We do a little bit of, um, some annuals in our flower bed out front that look nice,
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  but the students really enjoy doing it, so it's an opportunity for them to to see the science and the community service
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  and the application end. But then also it's important in our Green Team that the students enjoy it.
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  There's a recreational piece and to just enjoy just enjoy doing it.
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  And they-and they do! They like to be here together and just having fun.
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  SPEAKER3: Well that's clear. I mean, the fact that they're coming in every week and it was really obvious when talking to them,
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  and it's obvious too, that you're really passionate about sustainability efforts.
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  In fact, you were deemed one of the Environmental Educators of the Year a couple of years back.
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  So offering these educational opportunities, we know it takes a lot of time and planning.
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  So why is this so important to you?
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  SPEAKER7: Well, we really do have, you know, as we've we've looked at, you know, our programing from both,
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  you know, during the school day. Um, you know, extending it beyond school, learning beyond school.
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  And again, just--just having fun and getting engaged in something that you enjoy doing.
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  Ultimately, it does tie into career possibilities because you know these students will--They will have career opportunities that involve
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  environmental engineering.
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  SPEAKER3: Absolutely.
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  SPEAKER7: Um, right? Not just stewarding, but also, you know, restoring, you know, things that have done--been done in the past that
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  the students themselves didn't cause the problems, but they know what the problems are,
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  and then they ultimately then have the-the skills and tools and resources to do something about it,
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  which ultimately impacts their future. So, you know, kind of always that that concept of paying it forward,
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  um, is, is a key part of why it is so important, I guess, to just leave it.
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  Leave it better than we found it, I guess.
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  SPEAKER3: Absolutely. So one of our OSD values is "strong family and community partnerships." And this topic really relates to the community portion
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  of, um, what all of you are trying to accomplish related to sustainability.
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  The Rotary Partnership as an example. So can you talk about how, um, connection with the community relates to your sustainability efforts?
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  SPEAKER7: Yeah. I mean, ultimately it does kind of come back to the-the Lerner Park project and partnering with the--with the eighth grade science classes,
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  Oregon Rotary and then our school partnering with the community to restore the Lerner Park,
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  um, you know, a restoration conservation park, again, both for recreation and, uh,
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  and as a place for our students to learn about what what what can we do, right?
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  So we're not just sitting back and watching something happen.
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  Um, we're we're actually participating in that.
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  So that community piece is we we know that we have, um, we have strong, supportive community and that keeping that link together is
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  really, really important because ultimately, ultimately, many of our students are going to return to the community or never
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  leave the community, as evidenced by if.
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  If. If you're teaching long enough, you will have students of your former students.
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  And we know that. And it's always good. It's always good fun to to see those former students and then talk about,
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  you know, we've been doing this long enough that our our students that came through and did Lerner Park.
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  Um, you know, close to 25 years ago. Right?
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  They're actually starting to send students through here now and go, "oh, I remember went to Lerner Park and how impactful that was." 25 I mean,
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  it really it really is. Um, and anyway again that that community piece just thinking about how do we go above and beyond,
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  you know, we have nice things because people do, um, do extra work and we're always paying it forward.
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  You know, the reason, um, our students right now are enjoying what we have is because the people that came before them,
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  you know, laid that groundwork. And now we're going to make sure that we again, leave it, um,
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  as good, if not better than we found it.
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  SPEAKER3: Well, the impact of our students on the on Lerner Park is really astounding.
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  When you see the field in which they're doing the planting, and the fact that entire field used to be invasive species.
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  The kids did that, and that's remarkable.
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  SPEAKER7: Yeah, it really is. You do kind of get that--a little bit of somewhat instant gratification because you can see,
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  you know, what it was, what it is, what it will become.
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  It--our students, when they get to be middle school, start to become young adults,
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  they realize that they they do have an impact and that they can cause positive change,
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  that it does take hard work. It's not necessarily easy, but they have the know how and the abilities to do that.
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  And yeah, to be able to see Lerner Park continue to be restored to its to more native prairie and just to be able to go out and enjoy it and know that those
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  resources are there, you know, with our woods.
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  One of the the things our students really do love to do is they love to pull garlic mustard.
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  And I don't know exactly why that is, but I'm sure a certain component is they can identify garlic mustard.
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  And once they they can, they know it has to be removed.
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  It's an invasive species. And they can do it, identify, they can pull it, and they can see exactly where they've been.
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  SPEAKER8: There's satisfaction to that!
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  SPEAKER7: There's--there's instant satisfaction because they know where they've been.
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  The garlic mustard has been--I mean, we will have that largely out of there here in the next growing cycle.
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  And they know--they know about the cycle.
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  They--"here's what we have to do to interrupt this invasive species." And then growing the the native plants that are going to go back in to replace,
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  um, you know, what was once disturbed, um, woodland into a more native state.
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  They understand that they--they understand what the long game is.
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  Right. And for for middle school students, sometimes it seems like they're just interested in the moment, but but they
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  understand that there's something bigger than just themselves and just this moment in time.
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  So which is cool to see.
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  SPEAKER8: What a life lesson that is, right?
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  SPEAKER7: It really is. Yeah. If you're going to--if you want to play to win, you've got to you have to play the long game as well as the short game,
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  and we really do have outstanding students here that want to be involved.
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  And really our community is very supportive.
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  They want to be involved. This is just a way of showing people how they can do that,
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  and ultimately we want our students to take on the leadership roles, um, moving forward as they become adults and community members themselves as
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  adults.
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  SPEAKER3: Now, as we end this school year, I want to acknowledge that you will be retiring at the end of the school year after 30 years of service.
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  What's next for you?
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  SPEAKER7: So what's next is I'll be taking the next year to determine what will be next.
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  Um, but--but I'm retiring from the--the classroom teaching aspect.
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  I'm not retiring from the community service and the project piece.
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  So I will continue to be involved with Lerner Park, Oregon Middle School landscape.
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  Um, our woods restoration, prairie restoration.
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  Interested in, um, in getting more involved with the woods up at Forest Edge as we we realize what's--what works on our woods here at the middle school.
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  Very positive because we actually know that we are you know, we are able to we're able to make a difference in those,
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  those places. And the kids just love the project.
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  So I'm going to--I'm going to keep--I'm going to keep coming back to that. That's good fun. You can't beat the--you can't beat the positive energy,
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  for sure.
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  SPEAKER9: Well we're very grateful for that. Thank you.
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  SPEAKER3: Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at Oregon SD.org/podcast.
• 15:55
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• 15:58
  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
• 16:05
  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.