Westside Secondary School

Sharing Recipient Stories

2023 Dufferin County Community Grant Recipient
$5,000

Sharing our grant

With a community grant of $5000, Westside was able to develop our sustainable style and gardening projects.

Westside’s EcoTeam focus was on allowing youth to learn about and be part of climate action. We achieved this by developing our indoor and outdoor gardens. We improved our raised beds and got a bountiful crop that students have been using in cooking classes. We have also been able to run the indoor grow towers in all seasons which has let us grow lettuce to donate to the food bank and herbs to use in our cooking classes. In terms of our sustainable style program, we try to reduce fast fashion and textile waste and give residents of our community access to clothes free of charge. We bought size tags to better organize the clothes so that students can select clothing more easily. We were also able to buy new trees which beautify the school grounds and help with carbon capture. We are currently working on bird feeders, an irrigation system, and getting dishes so we don’t have to use disposable items during meetings and events. Emma Sutherland, a grade 9 student, praises the program: “I got a pair of leggings and shoes from sustainable style. It means I didn’t have to go out and buy new ones.” Thank you for granting us the money to make all of this possible. Mark Wilson, a senior foods instructor says” We used the plants that the EcoTeam grew to give students opportunities to have a hands-on approach in the kitchen.”

Meghan Lambertus
Westside Secondary School
meghan.lambertus@ugdsb.on.ca
(519) 938-9355
https://www.ugdsb.ca/westside/