Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Friday, May 08, 2009

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Clockwise from bottom left: Catherine Mannon, Greta Workman, Rachel Whiteheart and Kam Farley are members of the Go Green Club, which has guided Henry Clay High School through the Kentucky Green & Healthy Schools program.

Environmentally conscious students at Henry Clay High School are committed to turning their fellow Blue Devils green. And members of the Go Green Club proudly wear T-shirts proclaiming their mission.

“The impact students can have on their environment is huge,” said biology teacher Tresine Logsdon, advisor for the 2-year-old club, which led the way to Henry Clay’s becoming the first high school in the state to complete all the requirements in the Kentucky Green & Healthy Schools program.

Former New York Gov. George Pataki, long regarded as an environmentalist and advocate for greener technologies, visited the school this week to encourage and congratulate its students.

“I’m proud of what Henry Clay has accomplished,” he said Wednesday. “You have shown here that it doesn’t take Washington to tell a school or a community or a family what to do.”

The main force behind the KGHS effort has been senior Catherine Mannon, founder and president of the Go Green Club.

“It makes you more aware of all the things you can do to help the environment and save energy,” she said of the state program’s requirements.

In the past year and a half, Henry Clay students completed nine projects, all with specific goals and measurable outcomes.

“The one that’s going to connect the most with students is the rain garden,” Catherine said. “This is something they can use and enjoy, too.”

The two gardens are behind the school in the low-lying grassy area between the tennis courts and Fontaine Road; benches will soon be added. At the edge of one garden is an engraved stone with the Ghandi quote “Be the Change You Wish to See in the World.”

Another popular club project is the carpooling initiative, in which approved students can be guaranteed a coveted parking space at school. Go Green Club members also spent a few Saturdays on campus planting trees, flowers and bulbs, picking up trash and adding a fence near the football field.

“It really made that area a lot better,” said junior Greta Workman. “There are tulips everywhere!”

In addition, Henry Clay has doubled the number of recycling bins and added a cardboard Dumpster.

“I think we need to work a little more on waste management,” junior Rachel Whiteheart said. “It’s clear from the ‘Dumpster dive’ that there’s a lot more we could be recycling.”

Another project was the inaugural Health and Safety Fair, which spotlighted the Lexington Farmers Market, the Good Foods Co-op, asthma and diabetes. “We had a really good turnout. A lot of students were interested,” said sophomore Kam Farley.

Other initiatives covered indoor air quality, energy conservation and hazardous chemicals; there was also a leadership component to the KGHS program.

Students intend for Henry Clay to be a “model” school next year, offering advice to its feeder schools (Cassidy and Athens-Chilesburg elementaries and Morton and Edythe J. Hayes middle schools) and any others that are interested in the Kentucky Green & Healthy Schools program.

Fayette County Public Schools already has four on the KGHS path: Cassidy, Millcreek and Picadome elementaries and Tates Creek Middle School.

Jonathan Miller, the state’s secretary of finance and administration and a 1985 Henry Clay graduate, also spoke at Wednesday’s event. He urged parents to listen to their kids’ ideas and take steps to help fulfill their vision for the environment.

“Young people are our greenest generation,” Miller said. “They ‘get it.’”

Coming up:

On May 19 in Frankfort, Henry Clay High School will be officially designated a Kentucky Green & Healthy School. Recognition and awards are administered through the Kentucky Environmental Education Council in cooperation with the Kentucky Department of Education and the Green & Healthy Schools task force.