Wheelabrator Project Instills Sense of Independence, Responsibility

For the 10 West Deptford Middle School seventh- and eight-graders who headed down to Florida for the 17th annual Wheelabrator Symposium for Environment and Education earlier this month, the trip wasn’t just about having fun and a few days away from school.

It was about a chance to gain a little independence and rely on each other as they presented the culmination of an entire school year’s worth of work.

“It made us feel like a team, or a little family,” one of the students, Grace Kresge, said. “I’ve made a bunch of friends within the group because of all the time we spent together.”

The team–Kresge, Cammi Arseaneau, Christina Petito, Lauren Maslinski, Sean Singiser, Ryan Weikel, Corinne LaGrange, Brendan Persicketti, Owen Hoffman and Jake Mangano–spent months planning and working on their project, which consisted of building bat houses for the Wheelabrator nature trail, work on the viewing stands there and a filming pair of videos.

Between weekly meetings, the work out at the nature trail on weekends and preparing for the presentation in Florida, the entire project amounted to a huge undertaking for the students.

“It was hours and hours of work,” Hoffman said.

That work helped the students prepare and hone their presentation for Florida, as well. They worked with third-graders at Green-Fields School, teaching them about the ecosystem formed by bats, butterflies and bees.

They said that was a little nerve-wracking for the first go-through.

“It wasn’t the most comforting feeling,” Hoffman said, adding that working with the second group of third-graders was much easier.

All it all paid off, as the team took home Best Use of Media and Technology to promote Environmental Advocacy, and plenty of accolades from their peers.

This was the 11th year West Deptford has been involved with the Wheelabrator Symposium, which is completely funded by the company, including the trip to Florida, and team adviser Bob Creamer said the students take the project more seriously than most, sometimes coming in during their lunch breaks during the school year, and it shows at the symposium.

“They get to compare themselves to other schools,” he said. “They walked away thinking they did really well.”

Creamer said he took personal pride in seeing teachers from other schools come out on their free time to watch West Deptford’s presentation.

“I asked them how they thought we did compared to last year,” he said. “They told me, ‘You were very good last year, but you were better this year.’ ”

But the awards and praise were only part of it.

Weikel said the trip was a learning experience–not just learning about environmental issues from heavyweights like Fabien Cousteau, grandson of the famed diver Jacques Cousteau, but also about what it takes to be part of a successful team.

“You have to learn to be more responsible, because you’re responsible for your own work, and the rest of your group depends on you for that,” he said.