Compost Club at Alton Darby Elementary

Hilliard’s Alton Darby Elementary School’s Compost Club is in its second official year. Thanks to some special Cub Scouts and their parents, they have also maintained compost piles for the past four years.

“Compost Club” is, however, a loose title for a group of students that helps organize and run the recycling, composting, gardening, and weeding programs at the school. They are the main cheerleaders for the school’s environmental health.

Mrs. Kleman, a second grade teacher, and Becky Bowers, the art teacher, consider this club a golden opportunity to excite and educate their students on the importance and value of mindfulness when it comes to their school community.

The biggest impact the group has had is with the school’s compost pile. Every day, students compost their lunch scraps and those scraps are taken outside and worked into the compost pile. Classrooms sign up to go outside to turn the compost pile and discuss what they observe. With their teacher, they talk about decomposition, insects, worms, temperature, and moisture. In the spring, the good dirt is harvested and used in the school’s garden beds where they have grown cantaloupe, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, Swiss chard, and a lot of lettuce.