The Green Team is a club that has formed with the goal of making LOHS a certified Oregon Green School. History teacher Breck Foster originally heard about the certification and decided to take action. The qualifications were a bit more difficult than she had originally thought, as for the certificate, you must have a student component, a staff component and a parent component. After gathering these three groups, students became much more involved in solving the difficult task of how to make LOHS a greener place.

The team was formed in January of last school year, but has since grown from having 10 students, to a group of 50 students involved with the team. Last year, the group made 10 goals in order to make the school more green. Recently, they are working on their compost goal by adding more compost bins around the school and making sure they are available, that students know about them and that they are actively cleaned in order to be usable.

Another goal is attempting to see how to lower excessive water use by looking at the landscaping of the school. This goal sprouted when the team was looking at the plant species around the school, and realized that there were many non-native species. This led to the team having an ivy pull at the school.

The team is also very focused on trying to lead a cultural shift in the school and trying to get more students to be enthusiastic about wanting to become a greener school community. “We are working on having kids making videos on recycling, composting and general education around some of these issues,” Foster added. “Another big goal is raising awareness in terms of climate change and how that’s connected to our school.” Foster noted that she hopes the community is able to learn how their local actions are able to impact the larger environment.

In order to join the Green Team, there is a Google Classroom code on the board in room 211, and after joining the online classroom, you can show up to a meeting after school on Thursdays. Foster also mentioned that you can reach out to senior Jake Archambo, who is club President. The group does have an official roster, and once you officially join you are added to an online remind group, and you can also try and join what interests you, such as being a part of the committee. “The big idea is that you come to a meeting, get on a committee, pick your focus, and then you can go that way.”