Here's My Great Green Idea!

In the spring of 2007, I decided to share a monetary gift left to me by my grandmother. I wanted to creatively share it with my son's school. A professional grant writer and environmental activist, I decided to challenge the school's students to learn about the environmental concerns facing them, design a project to address those issues, and then complete a grant application. I called it the Arlis Saxon Eco-Kids Project. It quickly caught attention, as the idea combines research, math, language, student leadership and environmental initiatives under a grant-making umbrella. Another parent joined me, and we decided that this would be a pilot project, to be replicated and expanded.

In Fall 2007, the students involved in the pilot researched and developed projects to improve the environmental footprint of their school. They submitted 3 proposals, were fully funded, and are now administering their projects including peer-education, tree-planting, and stocking their school library with environmentally-themed resources. They are excited and invested in the success of this venture, even taking an interest in the fundraising process. Each team consists of students from multiple age-groups. 4th graders are finding they have things in common with 6th graders, and that they all have things they can learn from each other.

This challenge began as a one-time private gift to Prairie Rose Elementary. However, as the project unfolded, so did its potential for growth. The Saxon Project has earned the respect of teachers, administrators, and community members, and we developed 2-year plan to strengthen the program based on our experience in the pilot year, coordinate with the public school system, develop environmental education curricula to serve students of a wide age-range, and offer this granting opportunity to all Bismarck schools, elementary, middle, and high. We are also developing a website for students and the community to serve as a clearinghouse for local environmental resources and ideas for greener living: saxonproject.org. The website offers a much needed resource to this community and will provide a central place for people of all ages to share ideas.

The Saxon Project has the support of the superintendent of Bismarck Public Schools and the fiscal sponsorship of the ND Community Foundation. We are in the process of expanding our board, which now includes students. We are also working to solicit financial support from a variety of sources to continue and expand our work.

The main goal of the Arlis Saxon Eco-Kids Project is to put the solutions of the future back into our children's hands. We strongly believe that our kids have the capacity to institute great changes, and we seek to offer them the support they need to achieve their creative goals. This is an innovative project, with potential to create lifestyle changes in students of all ages, their parents, school faculty and administration, government officials and the community at large.