Overlake’s Green Team reminds families that Hootie’s List, a textbook swapsite for Overlake is up and running, thanks to the great work by Michael Williams ‘12, PFSA coordinator Nancy Miller-Juhos and a start-up grant from the Go Green Fund.

www.Hootieslist.org is a website created solely for the use of the parents and students of The Overlake School. This site was created to help families buy and sell used textbooks among themselves. This is not an online transaction site, but a way to find someone who wants to buy or sell a particular textbook. This parent-run site, sponsored by the PFSA, aims to use the resources already in the community, to keep costs down and get you the materials you need for Overlake classes. For questions please email hootie@hootieslist.org Check out Hootie’s List at www.HOOTIESLIST.ORG.

It’s the real deal: we’re going to celebrate the completion of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified new Technology Language Center! This is a big day for students, faculty, staff and administration, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, tours of the building, ice cream for students and an evening celebration for parents, alumni and supporters.  Classes will begin in the new classrooms on Tuesday!

Have you ever wondered where chocolate comes from, if antibacterial soap is good for your family, or how to recycle an old computer? If you’ve had these or other questions about the environmental and social impacts of the products you buy and use, Good Stuff is for you. This on-line guide from Worldwatch Institute contains many of the tips, facts, and links you’ll need to start making more informed purchases that benefit your health and the environment.

To check out the Good Stuff guide (dowloadable pdf file), click here:  http://www.worldwatch.org/taxonomy/term/44

Overlake sixth graders worked with Woodland Park Zoo staff on a variety of projects focused on water conservation, endangered species and backyard habitat. According to Jenny Mears, Zoo Education Coordinator “The students did the zoo a tremendous service with all of their hard work. In addition to creating a large box of nature journals and cutting out two boxes of nature photos, Overlake students:

• assembled 300 upapi bracelet kits, which will raise $900 for the Maasai Association’s Waterhole Restoration Project, one of many conservation projects supported by the zoo
• assembled 100 teacher packets, which will help teachers educate their students about animals and their habitats and which will raise $1000 for the zoo
• packaged 500 backyard habitat kits and collated the contents for 500 more kits, which will help families create habitat for wildlife in their backyards
• filled 169 small buckets and 79 large buckets of ZooDoo, the sale of which will raise $2,130 for the zoo

All in all, their efforts will raise Woodland Park Zoo and our conservation partners over $4,000 and, even more importantly, will help us meet our mission of saving animals and their habitats.”

Congratulations and thanks to our sixth grade and advisors for a job well done!

On March 25, 9th grade advisories partnered with Mountains to Sound Greenway and Green Redmond for a day of service focused on environmental sustainaibility. Their hard work on the shores of Lake Sammamish and on the Redmond Watershed trails helped promote healthier wetlands and watershed. Thanks to our 9th graders and advisors for a job well-done!

The Green Team is pleased to announce a GREEN GRANT awarded to the US Environmental Club for a plant-growing project utilizing the on-campus greenhouse for vegetable starts. The starts will support a community garden at Avondale Park Transitional Housing and herbs for the Overlake campus kitchen. The project, led by club leader Natalie Chin and advisor Pete Traube, began last quarter and will continue through spring.

Congratulations to the US Environmental Club!

Overlake’s Green Team initiated a campus-wide energy audit in 2009 with the goal of providing a road map for short-term and long-term energy-wise maintenance of Overlake facilities. The audit, conducted by MacDonald Miller and paid for with Green Funds concluded with the presentation of audit results and recommendations for energy-saving facilities improvement measures. Recommendations were heartily endorsed by the administration and incorporated into the short-term and long-term facilities plans. The first recommendation, implemented in December and paid for by the Green Fund, was a retrofit of Field House lighting with an estimated 50% reduction in kilowatt hours for the facility. In addition, Overlake qualifies for a PSE rebate for a significant portion of the $22,000 retrofit, making this an energy-wise AND cost-effective decision! PSE rebate dollars will be rolled back into the Green Fund for future facilities improvement measures. Energy savings will be tracked through monthly monitoring of PSE billing data. Many thanks to Builder’s Rep Liz Leroy, parent Lynda Kent, Overlake’s Green Team and maintenance staff for assistance with implementation of this retrofit.

The Brighter Planet blog has posted “Top 12 Conservation Tips” for the winter holidays.  Check out these “green” ideas at:
http://blog.brighterplanet.com/2008/12/03/top-12-conservation-tips-for-the-holidays/

The Green Team is pleased to announce two Green Grant awards in support of innovative “green” ideas proposed by Overlake faculty, staff and students. Proposals were submitted during the October grant award cycle.

Green Grants awarded:

• Kill-A-Watt meters:  to measure electricity consumption and impacts of conservation practices in classrooms and homes, 10th grade and 11th grade environmental science students will use Kill-A-Watt meters to collect live data, measure cumulative use of electricity over a period of time, quantify impacts and report outcomes. Proposal submitted by Gerald Blycker.

• National Wildlife Federation Schoolyard Habitat Certification: to certify The Overlake School campus as a Schoolyard Habitat site, MS Environmental Club will conduct certification application process and inform community through signage and published articles. Proposal submitted by Gretchen Davis and Chris Berry on behalf of the MS Environmental Club.

Congratulations to the grant award recipients!
The Green Team

5th and 6th graders served the community in October while learning about healthy wetlands and habitat through environmentally-focus service on MS Service Day.

6th graders worked at the Cedar River Watershed, partnering with Seattle Public Utilities and Friends of Cedar River for restoration projects. They planted over 220 native plants and removed invasive species to improve our watershed.

5th graders learned about campus wetlands and OWLS trail system through tours and trail maintenance with OWLS Project Manager Melody Gulledge and Outdoor Education Coordinator Kent Renno. 5th graders also planted 600 daffodil bulbs for a campus beautification project that the Overlake community will enjoy when the bulbs bloom in spring.

Thanks to the 5th and 6th grade students and faculty advisors for improving our community through environmental service.