2007 Golden Apple Awards Winners

The NYC Department of Sanitation’s 2007 Golden Apple Awards program included the following three school contests.

• TrashMasters! Super Recyclers: Recognizes schools that have implemented model recycling programs for the materials designated by DSNY.

• TrashMasters! Reduce & Reuse Challenge: Rewards schools for implementing the most successful and innovative waste prevention practices.

• TrashMasters! Team Up to Clean Up: Acknowledges schools exhibiting the most extensive and original cleanup and beautification projects. Also, the New York Restoration Project selects a Rose Award winner from entries in all grade divisions for a school with a notable vision for a beautification project.

Prize Money: Citywide Winner ($6,000), Borough Winner ($3,000), Borough Runner-Up ($1,500), Honorable Mention ($750), and Notable Mention (no cash prize).

Judging: For each contest, schools submit binders that describe their completed projects. A judging committee of environmental educators and government officials reviews and scores all the submitted binders. To receive an award, schools had to meet minimum score requirements; some categories did not produce a winner.

The winners for each contest appear below; bold text indicates Citywide Winners. PDF files with scanned pages from the winning project entry binders are also posted. Read the DSNY press release announcing the 2007 winners.

Outstanding recycling programs with school-wide involvement and support

Elementary School Division
Intermediate School Division
High School Division

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIVISION

 Queens Borough & Citywide Winner ($6,000)

PS 229 Emanuel Kaplan School
“PS 229: New York’s Cleanest” established a student force of Recycling Police to monitor, reward, and fine classrooms and offices to enforce recycling in the school. Using books, songs, “edible landfills”, and drawings, teachers integrated recycling into English, Math, Social Studies, Music, and Science classes. This school created a replicable model for how NYC schools can start a comprehensive recycling program with student monitors supporting the custodian’s and administration’s efforts. See pages from winning entry (3.9MB).

Queens Borough Runner-Up ($1,500)

• PS 239 Police Officer Ramon Suarez
  “T.R.A.S.H.: Teams Reaching to Achieve Sanitation Honors” used recycling “mentors and monitors” to promote recycling school wide. Older students created posters and recycling bin labels, taught lower grades how to recycle properly, and inspected recycling areas. Teachers integrated more extensive recycling lessons into their expanded curriculum, and used Think.com to help students learn about recycling interactively. See pages from winning entry (1.3MB).

INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DIVISION

  Manhattan Borough & Citywide Winner ($6,000)

MS 45 John S. Roberts Educational Complex
In “Recycling For Our Future,” students successfully built awareness and promoted proper recycling through school wide training, assemblies, and classroom presentations. Students motivated the entire school to recycle through rewards, prizes, and fines. Students also reclaimed recyclable materials from the school’s trash and began their own green business selling recycled paper products. This school’s exemplary recycling program demonstrates the cooperation of custodial and administrative staff. See pages from winning entry (3MB).

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HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION

Brooklyn Borough & Citywide Winner ($6,000)

E R Murrow High School
Students in the Special Education Department worked together with the Environmental Club to overcome inherent difficulties in setting up a successful recycling program at this large high school. Using flyers, fundraisers, and announcements, the students emphasized the importance of recycling throughout the school. They continually made sure every room had recycling bins. In addition to their paper dumpster, they also arranged for curbside collection of cans, bottles, foil, and milk cartons from the cafeterias and offices. See pages from winning entry (2.8MB).

Manhattan Borough Honorable Mention ($750)

• High School for Environmental Studies
  The “Urban Recyclers” at this school ensured that every room had recycling bins, encouraged milk carton recycling in the cafeteria, and hosted a summit meeting for other high schools interested in learning how to set up a proper recycling program and exploring other sustainability issues. See pages from winning entry (1.3MB).  

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Most innovative waste prevention practices

Elementary School Division
Intermediate School Division
High School Division

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIVISION

Brooklyn Borough Winner ($3,000)

Brooklyn Borough Runner-Up ($1,500) & Brooklyn Master School Composter

PS 321 William Penn
“Going, Going Green!” was initiated by a new Go Green team of concerned parents and teachers, weaving lessons on waste reduction, reuse, and recycling into the school’s curriculum and activities. Students engaged in a wide variety of educational activities including park studies, worm composting, recycled art, history lessons on early Native American waste reduction, and songwriting with recycling themes. This school also won the NYC Compost Project's Golden Shovel Award for Master School Composter in Brooklyn. See pages from winning entry (3MB).

Queens Borough Winner ($3,000) & Queens Master School Composter

P 224 @26 Q Rufus King School
Students with severe learning and behavioral difficulties observed nature and their own relationship to the environment through science experiments, yoga techniques, environmental literature, art projects, writing and journaling, and photography. Students invented and implemented their own ideas for practical ways to reuse everyday objects. This school also won the NYC Compost Project's Golden Shovel Award for Master School Composter in Queens. See pages from winning entry (3MB).

Queens Borough Honorable Mention ($750)

• PS 239 Police Officer Ramon Suarez
  Students at this school expanded their “Waste Watcher” program: they documented the amount of waste in classrooms and common areas, weighed their own lunch waste in order to make personal reductions, and continued to brainstorm creative eco-friendly innovations.Their use of technology to reduce paper waste is replicable by other schools. See pages from winning entry (1MB).

Staten Island Borough & Citywide Winner ($6,000)

PS 8 R Shirlee Solomon School
In “PS 8 Colors Our World Green,” students collected old, broken crayons to be recycled into new, larger crayons for children with poor motor skills. Teachers used the project as a springboard for math, science, and literacy activities, engaging the entire school through research, students’ promotion efforts, charts and graphs of collected materials, and art projects using the paper crayon wrappers. See pages from winning entry (2.7MB).

Staten Island Borough Runner-Up ($1,500)

• PS 22 Graniteville
  The “Kids Reduce/Reuse Program” consisted of a variety of waste reduction and reuse projects: students reduced the school's junk mail, collected diskettes and clothing for reuse, decorated old flower pots with newspapers, and learned to compost. This school continues to seek out remarkably innovative outlets for reusing materials not mandated for recycling by New York City. See pages from winning entry (1MB).

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INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DIVISION

Manhattan Borough Honorable Mention ($750)

• Grace Church School
  The “G.R.E.E.N. Grace Respects Environmental Efforts Now” project focused on a school-wide effort to raise environmental awareness. The student Green Team and parent-led Sustainability Task Force educated the school community about waste reduction, reuse, and recycling through posters, newsletters, eco-fundraisers, recycled art projects, and collection programs. This initiative promises to be an ongoing effort. See pages from winning entry (1.2MB).

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HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION

Bronx Borough Winner ($3,000) & Bronx Master School Composter

Bronx High School of Science
Students in the League for Environmental and Animal Protection (LEAP) Ecology Club initiated an exemplary multi-phased reduce and reuse campaign, enthusiastically engaging teachers, science classes, and various student organizations. LEAP constructed indoor and outdoor composting systems, and educated the school on practical ways to reuse and reduce at school and at home. LEAP also conducted a workshop on recycling at the YouthCan conference for students from other schools, and disseminated information at their annual Earth Day Ecology Fair. This school also won the NYC Compost Project's Golden Shovel Award for Master School Composter in the Bronx. See pages from winning entry (2.5MB).

Manhattan Borough Honorable Mention ($750) & Manhattan Master School Composter

High School for Environmental Studies
The “Urban Recyclers” created a solar oven made of pizza boxes, reused flowers and plants from a floral shop for a school play, collected and donated books to the Used Book Café, collected clothes for recycling, and participated in an energy audit. Students also conducted a workshop on composting at the YouthCan conference for students from other schools. This school also won the NYC Compost Project's Golden Shovel Award for Master School Composter in Manhattan. See pages from winning entry (2.75MB).

Queens Borough Winner ($3,000)

• Richmond Hill High School
  In its first year, the Environmental Club introduced “A Green Project: Paper Recycling and Reuse,” an extensive paper recycling and reuse program promoting environmental consciousness throughout the school. The school reduced its paper waste in five months by almost 3,000 pounds and reused over 200 pounds through the outstanding efforts of this student group. See pages from winning entry (1.6MB).

Queens Borough Runner-Up ($1,500)

• Queens High School of Teaching
  This school’s Ecology Club coordinated a school-wide clothing drive to reuse good clothes and reduce waste. Students researched the impact, ran an awareness campaign, organized collections in classrooms, and documented a total of 600 pounds of clothing that they donated to the Salvation Army. See pages from winning entry (2.3MB).

Queens Borough Honorable Mention ($750)

• P 233 Q @ 875
  In “Reprocessing Cellular Phones: Recycling for a Common Cause,” this school met a variety of learning standards through a major drive to collect cell phones for recycling. Students researched resource conservation, educated the school community on the toxic environmental impact of cell phone disposal, and organized successful collections. See pages from winning entry (2.7MB).

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Cleanup and beautification of schools and communities

Elementary School Division
Intermediate School Division
High School Division

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIVISION

Brooklyn Borough & Citywide Winner ($6,000)

P 369 K @ P 5 Coy L Cox
In “Working Together We Can Clean Up Our World,” emotionally disturbed children and students with autism created a vibrant outdoor mural. Together, students brainstormed to decide on the mural’s location, theme, and content. Teachers integrated science and art in this beautification project, giving students with different abilities the opportunity to learn about one another and work together as a community. See pages from winning entry (2.2MB).

Manhattan Borough Winner ($3,000)

• PS 184 Shuang Wen
  In “School, Community, Earth: Share the Care,” students, teachers, and parents created and maintained several gardens around the school building. The fresh food they grew was donated to a local soup kitchen. Students initiated a cleanup transforming a neglected nearby park into a flourishing garden. Through composting presentations, creative writing, and natural science lessons, students met learning standards while working on community beautification activities.  See pages from winning entry (2.4MB).

Queens Borough Winner ($3,000)

• St Anastasia School
  After conducting extensive research on wetland and watershed conservation, individual students were inspired to organize several cleanups to help preserve their local wetland environment. Students also educated the community about the importance of a cleaner environment. See pages from winning entry (1.8MB).

Queens Borough Runner-Up ($1,500) 

• PS 205 Alexander Graham Bell
  This school’s “Beautifying our World” project continues to expand, utilizing all available green space around the school building for growing multiple flower and vegetable gardens. Teachers constantly use these gardens for cross-curriculum studies, especially in science, art, and literature. See pages from winning entry (1.4MB).

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 INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DIVISION

Queens Borough & Citywide Winner ($6,000)

PS 47 Chris Galas
Student in “The Green Invaders” project worked together to attack the invasive species that damage their school’s unique surrounding environment, the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Teamed up with teachers and Park rangers, they removed non-native invasive plants, cleaned up trash and debris, and planted several native trees. Using science, math, creative writing, and social studies, students examined and reflected on their experience. See pages from winning entry (2MB).

Staten Island Borough Winner ($3,000) & Staten Island Master School Composter

IS 75 Frank D Paulo
Each season throughout the school year, students engaged in various activities to help clean up and beautify their school’s community. Students collected leaves in decomposable paper lawn & leaf bags, established compost areas, and created a 9-11 memorial garden in the school yard. This school also won the NYC Compost Project's Golden Shovel Award for Master School Composter in Staten Island. See pages from winning entry (1.5MB).

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HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION

Brooklyn Borough Winner ($3,000) & New York Restoration Project Rose Award Winner

• W E B DuBois High School
  The Earth Science classes at this school for over-age under-credited high school students engaged in indoor and outdoor gardening projects. Students planted trees in an outside garden area and analyzed the natural processes in writing and artwork.The project included further research using written and illustrated reports on environmental destruction on a broader scale, encouraging students to understand how their actions impact the environment. See pages from winning entry (1.7MB).

Manhattan Borough Winner ($3,000)

• High School for Environmental Studies
  The Go Green club at this school engaged in a rich variety of environmental activities. Students educated youth from other schools through composting workshops at the YouthCan conference, and assessed environmental indicators in the neighborhood. They also worked with local environmental organizations to plant in parks including the Batavia Kill and Riverside Park. See pages from winning entry (1.2MB).

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