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PART 1: WHAT’S THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE?

1.       Describe the environmental topic you team will address.
Our team will address the pollution of the Passaic River and raise awareness of how much plastic debris ends up in the river and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean.  The Passaic River as seen on the map below, meanders through many towns including Paterson and Newark, and ending in the Newark Bay Estuary (a back bay of New York Harbor).

2.       What local community issue within this topic did your team select?
Our team selected to raise awareness about the floatable problem that exists in the Passaic River.  A “Floatable” is any coarse solid that when discharged to a waterway is a visual nuisance in the water or on the shoreline and can have adverse effects on wildlife and can cause public health concerns.  NJDEP prohibits CSO solids/floatables larger than ½”.

3.       Why is this issue important to your team?
This issue is important to our team because our team is about making better choices.  Because of irresponsible behaviors, these floatables are transported to connecting waterways.  This degrades the aesthetics of the waterways and has proven to be a hazard to boaters and wildlife.  Some of these floatables are actually “toilet litter” which is a health concern.

PART 2: WHAT’S YOUR PLAN?

1.      Describe your team’s goals for this project?
Our team has identified that 99% of the floatables in the Passaic River are there as a result of the irresponsible behavior of pedestrians.  Our goal is to create an emotional response through art exhibits and raise not only awareness but to awaken a sense of stewardship in the citizens of New Jersey.

2.       Describe the step-by-step actions you plan to take to meet each of the goals outlined above.
Our team is putting our plan into action by:

a. Creating works of Art:

i.                     A seven foot by four foot Mural has been created that is a collage of positive and negative photographs of the Passaic River taken and arranged by the students.  This artwork is accompanied by an original poem written by one of the students. This will be traveling to Ikea, Bank of America’s Green building in Manhattan, Mac Calli Building in Woodcliff Lake Benz headquarters in Montvale, New Jersey, and other schools to raise awareness.

ii.                   A holiday Christmas tree sculpture is currently on display at Immaculate Heart Academy  – this is a 9ft tall tree made entirely of plastic water bottles. Standing beside the tree is a recycle bin – it makes a statement. 

b. An infomercial is being created to highlight the negative effects of irresponsible recycling behaviors for Immaculate Heart Academy, Channel One.  Upon completion, the infomercial will be shared with surrounding middle and grammar schools.

               i.                              Students at IHA have formed a troupe called  The “Clean up you Act” Players. They are writing directing and producing different infomercials to be distributed

c.        We have created T- shirts and cloth bags with messages all aimed at pedestrian awareness.  This advertising and sales campaign encourages better choices.

d.      Created a website IHA LEADS THE WAY -  Follow the link below to view all photos, art work and events!  (http://66.7.71.82/Outside2/Math/MorinC/Corn%20Connection/POP-index.htm)

e.       The finance class partnered with us for their entrepreneur project.  They are currently producing T-shirts and bags with our art work on them and they are selling them to raise awareness and make money that will be donated to help clean up the Passaic River.  

 

3.       List the specific responsibilities of each team member toward achieving these goals?

Each of our team members has unique talents that they  will utilize towards our common goal. Dana Siska is the photographer, Kristi Wendel created, designed and produced some eco friendly bags, Lorna Julian is the poet, Hannah Kong is the Artist responsible for merging all the work, sculpting the water bottle tree and doing the graphic design for the T shirts, Christine Scully researched and did finishing work on the T-shirt and coordinated artwork and shirt selection, Kelly Dubinsky collected information about the Passaic river, Meg O’Brian is the CEO of the Corporation established in the finance class that is producing and selling the merchandise, and Suzanne Morin wrote the press releases for the local news papers, Olivia Matteis organized team efforts and coordinated the plans for our project to go to the middle and grammar schools.

4.       How will you measure success?

Our success will be measured by the amount of sales of our products after the community is introduced to the artwork.  We will do a cost function and cross that with our revenue function.  Where the two meet will be our breakeven.  We will subtract our cost from our revenue to determine our profit and loss statement.

5.       How will you quantify impact?

We will know we have made an impact in the towns that the Passaic River passes through by the responses from the Mayors that we contacted.

We can measure the impact of our message through the monies raised from the shirt and bag sales generated by the finance entrepreneur project.

We will know we have embarked on student emotions through the medium of art displayed in the school community by the number of students requesting to join the Art/Environmental Water challenge.

We will have made a difference in the State of New Jersey when we make our donation to the coalition for the Passaic River Clean up, hosted by Montclair State University.

PART 3: YOUR PLAN IN ACTION: HOW DID YOU IMPLEMENT YOUR IDEAS?

1.       Describe how your team put its plan into action. What did you do?

We sent students out in groups to photograph the Passaic River and mark the locations of the photos. As a group we reviewed the photos, selecting the ones that spoke to us.  The poem was written.  We then contacted printers to ask for their help in fabricating our art work.  While this was taking place others were contacting possible corporate sites to display the art work.  As everything started to come together, we were contacted by the Finance class to partner with them and create a product to sell that was art based and would raise awareness.  The Finance class wanted to do their entrepreneur project to help raise awareness and money.  The money would in turn be donated to the cause.  Now word was out in our school community and more wanted to partner with us.  A group formed called the “Clean up your Act” Players.  They in conjunction with our team members designed infomercials and skits that will be aired on the IHA broadcast system and neighbor schools as well.  These infomercials are being submitted to Channel One for National consideration.

2.       Did you organize a school event to raise awareness of the issue?
Yes, we did organize school events to raise awareness of this issue.  As part of our land challenge, we offer free lemon aid in the school lobby on Wednesdays to students that have refillable water bottles.  We began to exhibit our photographs during these events to spark interest in what was coming next!  We then began building our nine foot Christmas tree from disposable water bottles right at the entrance to our cafeteria.  The whole school community watched as the tree was built from the debris generated by the students!  Once our seven by four foot mural is complete, it will be displayed for a week in the school lobby before it goes “on tour”.

3.       Was the community involved? If yes, how?
Yes the school community continues to be involved on many  levels. This initiative has spun off additional groups.  These groups in-turn have reached out to the community in other ways.  It is rewarding to see new ideas and initiatives that were launched by our participation in this challenge.

 

4.       How did you get the word out?
We have mailed our press release to numerous newspapers in the area. We have launched a website; (see attached: http://66.7.71.82/Outside2/Math/MorinC/Corn%20Connection/POP-index.htm) and have contacted scientific magazines in hope for a research piece.  We are also reaching out to all the Mayors of the towns that the Passaic River passes through.  Our hope is that we can create a coalition to help clean up the river.

Part 4: EVALUATE YOUR PLAN:  WHAT ARE THE RESULTS?

1.   In what ways was your plan successful?
We are pleased that the school community is overwhelmingly supportive towards our efforts.   

The total cost of the creation of our artwork was sponsored by the local businesses.

2.   What challenges did you face and how could your plan have been improved?
The challenge that we faced was the amount of work this entailed and trying to complete it with only ten team members and a very limited amount of time.  A larger group to shoulder the burden would have made deliverables more timely.

3.   What positive outcomes were achieved from your implementing this plan?
First and foremost we built a cohesive team from individuals that did not know each other and in time learned to depend and communicate with each other and feed off each other with new ideas and above all support each other.  The amazing artwork they produced touched so many people and was a positive reinforcement for all their hard work! 

 

4.   What quantifiable impact did you have?

·         The raised level of awareness from all stakeholders in our school community

·         The number of volunteers has more than  quadrupled

·         The extended community has expressed interest by the number of businesses willing to host our artwork.

·         The amount of product that we sold.

5.   How did you learn from this experience?
We learned how powerful a medium art is.  Art is able to transcend class , race and gender; thus enabling us to relate on our common human experience.  True art does not discriminate; it evokes and shares the emotion with all that come in contact with it.