St. Thomas goes green

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School added a new school color this year: Green. Led by parents Janet Madrazo and Lezlie Vlasimsky, the school adopted a campus-wide initiative to become more environmentally friendly. This fall, fourth-grade students collected old tennis shoes and sent them to Nike, where they became ground cover for playgrounds. A kindergarten class created a scarecrow entirely from recycled items. And in December, students led an education campaign to recycle Christmas trees and other holiday items. Students and teachers also recycle in classrooms and the lunchroom, where the school switched to biodegradable cardboard plates, and St. Thomas also implemented organic landscaping. These initiatives come from the school’s “Green Team,” with a representative from each third- through eighth-grade class meeting monthly with Madrazo, Vlasimsky and teachers to brainstorm. “You get in there, and you realize there is so much you can do,” Madrazo says. “It’s fun to watch the kids get excited.” They wear their pride each month on green day with T-shirts proclaiming: “St. Thomas Aquinas Green Team: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.”