The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House Council on Environmental Quality recognized Sacred Heart Greenwich teacher Mary Musolino and two Class of 2016 graduates, Madison Miles and Katherine Siciliano, for their outstanding contributions to environmental education and stewardship.
They were among 18 teachers and 63 students from across the countries who were honored at a White House ceremony on Aug. 16. The event included remarks from Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator; Dr. John Holdren, President Obama’s Chief Senior Advisor; and John King, Secretary of Education.
“These teacher and student winners are exemplary leaders, committed to strong environmental conservation and tackling problems including landfill waste and climate change head on,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “Environmental education cultivates our next generation of leaders by teaching them how to apply skills in creativity and innovation. I have no doubt that teachers and students like these will someday solve some of our most complex and important issues.”
Student projects featured activities such as creating a new eco-friendly fertilizer, restoring and conserving local habitats, promoting recycling and other waste reduction methods, analyzing the impact of solar panel installation, exploring a new water pollution mitigation method, and analyzing storm water flow and flood risk.
Sacred Heart Greenwich won the award as the best in EPA Region 1, which includes all New England, for the project, “Nutrasafe: Creating an Eco-Friendly Plant Food for the Environment.”
Mrs. Musolino directs the Upper School’s unique three-year Science Research Program. The program offers students opportunities to conduct advanced research and scholarship. Under the supervision of scientist-mentors and classroom teachers, students work as interns in labs at major universities, teaching hospitals and environmental centers, either conducting their own studies or participating in ongoing research. They present their findings in local and national forums and even publish their work in professional journals.
The Sacred Heart Greenwich students developed and tested a new eco-friendly plant food called Nutrasafe. This plant food comes in soluble, vegetarian gel capsules that are filled with dried and ground banana and orange peels. By using gel capsules, the plant food can be easily distributed directly into the soil. They performed multiple trials with different fertilizers. Plants given Nutrasafe grew as well as plants given traditional fertilizers, and formed less algae in water.
Madison and Katherine plan to present their work to middle school and elementary school students, and to share Nutrasafe capsules with school gardens. This fall, Madison will enter Cornell University and Katherine will attend Boston University.
