Funded Projects » Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program

Saturday, 18 of May of 2013

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Funded Projects

Please click on the photos or underlined links below for more details and additional photos of each of the completed Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant-Funded projects. Thanks to all for helping make Carmel a greener community, one youth project at a time.



UHS Tree Hugging Trailblazers The University High School Green Club involved the entire school in planting 34 drought resistant trees, native to Indiana on school grounds. They paired the plantings with an educational campaign about the importance of trees in helping clean our air.	Girl Scouts’ Bikeyard 100 Carmel Girl Scout Troop 801 created and implemented an event called the "Bikeyard 100" at Creekside Middle School to encourage kids to ride their bicycles safely and more often. This eco-friendly idea prevents pollution by reducing the number of cars on the road and also promotes a healthy lifestyle. At the event, over 100 kids and over 70 adults agreed to sign a pledge to ride their bikes more often to help the environment.
Bats – Nature’s Bug Zappers Boy Scout Troop 202 built and installed eighteen bat boxes to encourage bats to live in several Carmel recreational locations. Bats are known to consume hundreds of insects each night, making bats an effective and natural way to reduce biting and stinging insect populations, minimizing the need for pesticides in areas where families enjoy the outdoors. Educational signs accompany the boxes.	CHS Green Shower Power The CHS Green Shower Power club received a Carmel Green Teen micro-grant for $750 to help fund new push-on auto-off buttons and low-flow shower heads in the school and community locker rooms. The new low-flow shower heads and push buttons will be utilized by 140 Carmel High School Swim Team athletes, 440 Carmel Swim Club members, and numerous student and community recreational swimmers.
Mission Recycle The Carmel Middle School Green Team used their grant money to educate students about the importance of recycling. They purchased ten Clear Stream recycling bins to be used in CaMS lunchrooms and at performing arts and athletic events. Launched during Earth Week 2011, education will be a large component to their project, with announcements, contests, and posters.	Recycling at CHS The CHS Environmental Club received a Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant for $936 to help fund long-awaited recycling bins for all three lunchrooms at CHS. The 5000 students and staff also have the opportunity to recycle throughout the school day by using funded recycling bins in the hallways.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Fifth grade students from Woodbrook Elementary School created a project called Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. In their school, they will reduce fuel and pollution with a No Idle Zone for cars and buses waiting in to pick up or drop off students, they will reuse shoes via a Soles4Souls collection drive, and they will encourage recycling of cans and bottles in their school cafeteria through an educational campaign which reuses existing trash bins as recycling bins.	Fishing Line Recycling In March 2011, Boy Scout Troop 202 began the first monofilament fishing line recycling program in Indiana by installing and agreeing to maintain receptacles in the seven Carmel-Clay parks with fishing ponds. Recycling the fishing line is not so much about the volume of product recycled as the impact that even a small amount can have on wildlife tangled in recklessly discarded line.
Coolers are Cooler with Cups The Cherry Tree Elementary School Green Club reduced the number of disposable plastic water bottles used and disposed of in Carmel-Clay schools cafeterias by providing their school plus 3 other schools with coolers and washable cups. These will be offered to students at lunchtime so that they may drink free tap water instead of purchasing disposable water bottles.	MOSAICS Family Garden This organic teaching garden was created to offer students, staff, and others an opportunity to enjoy the many benefits of a community garden. MOSAICS is an alternative school that provides services to special education students identified as emotionally disabled. The project has been designed as both a therapeutic and an educational lab.
Tree Scouts Boy Scout Troop 180 organized over twenty members of the community to come together to plant 70 trees, indigenous to Indiana, at West Park in Carmel. Trees play key roles in habitats of all animals, including me and you. Trees also reduce carbon dioxide in the air and replace it with oxygen.	CHS Green Lights Club Through the efforts of the CHS Green Lights Club, 105 Carmel homes installed CFL bulbs in their outdoor lighting, collectively reducing their carbon footprint by 51 tons. The Green Lights Club was named a Lugar Energy Patriot for their creative work on energy conservation.
Ban the Bottle, Try the Tap! During Earth Week the Brownies at Towne Meadow Elementary School engaged students with an educational campaign demonstrating the amount of energy consumed and waste produced by buying and using disposable water bottles.They also distributed reusable water bottles to students who promised to use and reuse them over and over again.	St. Christopher’s Garden On December 5, 2009 34 people representing the boy scouts, church, and other groups worked together at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Carmel to build 14 – 5′x10′ and 3 – 10′x10′ raised planting beds for the St. Christopher’s Crops garden ministry. This community garden provides fresh, wholesome organic produce to area food pantries for distribution to needy families.
Scouts’ Reusable Shopping Bags Prairie Trace Elementary Cub Scout Pack 197 promoted reusable shopping bags at their school. The Cub Scouts designed their own shopping bags. To receive a free shopping bag, each Prairie Trace Elementary family signed a pledge indicating that they would use it at least once each week for a year.	River Trail Wildflower Reintroduction Woodbrook Elementary Webelo Scout Pack 198 seeded the River Trail pedestrian and bike path in the spring of 2010 with native Indiana wildflowers to address a need to restore plant, insect, and animal biodiversity to the areas adjacent to the multi-use pathway. The beautiful flowers now provide food and homes for birds and insects and offer beauty to the many people passing by.
Earth Day Tree Seedling Give-Away The Carmel Middle School student Green Team gave away 1000 Earth Day tree seedlings for planting. These included White oak trees, Red maple trees, and Chokeberry shrubs. The student group provided instructions on how to plant the seedlings as well as tips on keeping the trees healthy. Did you know that each average-sized tree provides an estimated $7 annual savings in environmental benefits, including energy conservation and reduced pollution?	Flutter Flowers Butterfly Reintroduction Carey Grove Park Members of Carmel Girl Scout troop 1166 chose to do two separate Green Teen projects. They first revamped a butterfly habitat reintroduction area at Carmel’s Carey Grove Park. A well-planned butterfly garden becomes a small, but representative sample of the surrounding habitat and as such provides a safe haven for butterflies and other wildlife to gather, seek shelter, acquire food and water, reproduce and build populations.
Flutter Flowers Butterfly Reintroduction Clay Middle School Members of Carmel Girl Scout troop 1166 then created a butterfly habitat garden at Clay Middle School eco-lab not only to introduce butterflies and bees to the area but also to provide students with a hands-on environment to study plant and animal life cycles.The Clay Middle School Outdoor Ecology Laboratory was created to promote the study of nature, natural history, ecology, and related areas. Used by Science classes and the Ecology Club, it is located on the east end of the Clay Middle School campus.	A Greener Tomorow is in the Bag Members of Towne Meadow Elementary’s Junior Girl Scout Troop 1120 distributed 1000 recycled, reusable shopping bags at Marsh Supermarkets and at their school. They provided educational brochures and thank you cards to all participants.