Potomac School: About Us » Environmental Partnerships

Students for Environmental Action

Students for Environmental Action (SEA) was initiated by students in the Upper School during the 2006-07 school year. In their first year of action, the committee accomplished a number of their objectives, including:

Worked with Catering management to replace styrofoam with eco friendly materials in the Upper School dining room

Began search for composting company to collect food waste

Helped with planting of Green Roof

Improved dam in pond to raise water levels and encourage more fish

Creating video to launch R3 Challenge, with suggestions for recycling, reducing, and reusing—the themes of the Challenge

Completed survey of campus recycling processes and needs; ordered additional recycling bins

Scheduling recycling pick ups by Advisory Groups.

Intermediate School Environmental Club

The Intermediate School Environmental Club has been active for several years. They are particularly visible on North Campus on Friday afternoons collecting recycling from all the classrooms and office spaces. Coinciding with the R3 Challenge, the IS Environmental Club has initiated a revamped recycling program, which should be faster and more efficient.

The Club initiated a lights off campaign that has been ongoing since December 2007. They encourage people room with posters and signage to remember to turn off lights when they leave the room.

Working with technology advisor Heidi Lamont, the IS club conducted research about effective ways to save energy, including whether or not to turn off the computer carts when not in use during the day. The club determined that it was more energy efficient to keep the computers turned on for the day. One candescent bulb uses as much energy as four laptop carts!

Club members are active sharing environmental information and activities on their CampusNET blog.

Outdoor Learning Partnerships

Potomac Partners with the Smithsonian

Potomac’s campus has been designated a Smithsonian Institution biodiversity monitoring site. Our students are learning to map the area, identify species, and collect data as the School participates in this world-wide program. Created in 1986, the Smithsonian’s Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity Program helps assess and monitor biodiversity around the world. Smithsonian scientists work with governments, nongovernmental organizations, academics, and community groups, training individuals to collect data on species growing in their area, concentrating on temperate and tropical forested regions. The ultimate goal of the program is to foster the use of sustainable natural resources.

Working with science teacher Mary Cahill, Smithsonian scientists selected and surveyed a one hectare plot in the wooded area adjacent to Pimmit Run. Then Smithsonian scientist Jennifer Buff came to campus to instruct Ms. Cahill’s seventh grade students on the proper way to map and identify the tree species in Potomac’s plot. Tramping through the woods on a chilly fall day, students began mapping and tagging the trees in the first quadrants. Mapping is continuing. Eventually, students in all divisions will be able to use this plot to study biodiversity and design projects for their science classes.

National Geographic Selects Potomac Student for JASON Project

Sophomore Madhu Ramankutty was selected by National Geographic's JASON Project as one of nine student 2008 National Energy Argonauts. Following in the footsteps of Potomac student Roz Fennell, who studied the bayou and nutria in Louisiana, Madhu will first attend a "boot camp" in Washington where she will meet Mission researchers, learn the protocols for scientific investigation, and participate in team building exercises. She will participate in one or two missions somewhere in the world to work with National Geographic scientists on some aspect of energy research. Her fieldwork will be captured in multimedia and print and will form the basis for the JASON Project curricula. The Argonauts become mentors and role models to the entire JASON community.

One of our Upper School students Roz Fennell (pictured second from right) served as a Jason Argonaut working in the field with National Geographic scientist Jacoby Carter studying the bayou and nutria in Louisiana.

National Geographic Films Potomac Students for JASON Project

For 17 years our Middle School (MS) students have participated in the JASON project, a multi-disciplinary research initiative directed by renowned scientists to inspire in students a life-long passion for learning in science, math, and technology.

National Geographic, a sponsor of the JASON project, filmed MS students on campus in 2007 as they completed an activity on hurricanes and buildings designed to withstand them. The completed CD is available to science teachers as part of the JASON curriculum program.The JASON project was founded in 1989 by explorer Dr. Robert Ballard and was named in the spirit of the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts.

Beekeeping at Potomac

Mrs. Gross's science lab buzzes several times a year when she and her Intermediate School Beekeeping Clubclass harvests honey from campus bee hives. Teachers in protective gear remove the honey frames from the hives and bring them to the science lab. Students then take the frames of honey sealed with beeswax and scrap off the wax. The braver ones delight to chew on the wax and taste the delicious wildflower honey. The frames are then placed into the honey spinner and students take turns cranking the spinner and forcing the honey out of the comb. When the honey has flowed down to the bottom of the spinner it is filtered three times and finally placed into honey jars.