Sneed’s Colors are Green and Gold (With an Emphasis On Green) Sneed Middle School, the only Green Steps certified school in Florence County, is helping its students become environmentally responsible individuals through a host of varied projects. To become a Green Steps school, students must outline a vision for at least four projects (Sneed currently has 11), and those projects must be sustained for a year. Students are required to show evidence of “learning, doing, and teaching” each of the projects. Sneed’s projects include campus-wide recycling, pollinator gardens, a raised bed vegetable and herb garden, Adopt-a-Street litter pickup, composting, plant-inevery-classroom, Breathe Better Air Quality Program, hydroponics, and bottle cap murals. Sneed also boasts a new greenhouse, two on-site beehives, and a milkweed project that aims to help our struggling monarch population. Sneed’s clubs are active in public outreach to help spread the message of sustainability throughout the region. Our 4-H Club speaks on the importance of pollinators at both area agricultural fairs and at Kalmia Gardens’ Earth Fair celebration. The Recycling and Environmental Action Clubs partner with Keep Florence Beautiful and Clemson Extension to educate the public about microplastics during Florence after Five events, and participate in the River Sweep and Great American Cleanup. 4-H member William Howard’s bee project won both the Florence County and PeeDee Regional 4-H Pollinator Project contests. Environmental Education projects are also incorporated into Sneed’s Seventh Grade Science curriculum. All 7th Grade Science students visited Kalmia Gardens of Coker College this fall to study microplastics, composting, the amazing Black Creek watershed, and the importance of protecting our natural world. By fostering students’ appreciation for the natural world through hands-on projects and activities, Sneed is helping students to feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for the world we live in, and is working to improve our community.
13 Publizr Home