Geography teacher and eco-team staff advisor Brenda Scarlett has received an honourable mention this year in Susan Langley’s Earth Steward Teaching Award. The school was awarded with $500 to put towards a sustainable education project.

The Susan Langley Earth Steward Teaching award was established in partnership with the Ontario Teachers’ Federation to honour the late Susan Langley. According to Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF,) the award will continue Susan’s important legacy in “empowering our children to change the world.” Founded in 1991, LSF is a non-profit Canadian organization that helps introduce and integrate sustainability education into Canada’s education system.

The award recognizes educators for their contribution to sustainability education in Canada. Recipients and runners up this year were recognized for their leadership in providing and encouraging sustainability education, as well as being inspirations to their students and school community.

According to Scarlett, Bayridge Secondary School has been taking part in activities surrounding sustainability education since 2008. Through teamwork and dedication, the school's staff and students have been able to create and implement many sustainability education initiatives within the school community over the last 15 years.

Scarlett spoke about how the recognition this year can be traced back to when it all got got started. "Yes, it's recognition this year, but it's been a long time coming. Back in 2008 [when] we started, students were kind of wondering [about] the accountability for the environment in our school."   The students asked for a position to be created in their student government. "They wanted a position for the environment so we could be more accountable. So then we developed the environmental minister on student council, and so then that environmental minister runs the eco team. It's kind of interesting how it's all kind of come about over the years." said Scarlett.

She went on to speak about the level of dedication shown by the students throughout the pandemic as well.

"During COVID, many people kept saying 'there's no extra-curriculars,' but the student council and eco team both ran at Bayridge Secondary School all throughout the entire COVID, even when we were at home. So that's pretty inspiring for an educator to watch and to see. And that's just how much they want to continue our projects," said Scarlett.

While receiving the honourable mention, Scarlett was sure to note the amount of hard work from the supporting staff and students.

"It's a whole team approach here. And even when I was recognized, I kept saying to the staff and the students that it's not just me ...  I can't do it on my own, and it's just like anything in any kind of initiative --  you've got to have a team that are all like-minded, that want to see it happen. And so they've inspired me to kind of just keep going."  said Scarlett

The school put the $500 award towards their annual grade 9 water bottle awareness workshop. This year they were able to ensure every single grade 9 student received a reusable water bottle and were taught throughout the two-day workshop why the reduction of single-use plastics is important.

Bayridge Secondary School's commitment to environmental education is also demonstrated in other ways. Each year, the school applies for EcoSchools Canada. The last two years, Bayridge has been a certified as a platinum level EcoSchool. Another thing they have applied for and received is a grant for a students-for-students environmental conference that was previously run at the school. It was originally to be brought back in 2020, but was delayed due to the pandemic. According to Scarlett, the plan now is to bring the conference back in April or May of 2024.

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