BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer
Something icky turned into something sweet last week at the Millstone Township Elementary School.
The 24 students in Irene Pearson’s fourth-grade class at Millstone Township Elementary School started composting in October. The students maintained three outdoor composting bins where they placed all their food scraps, which included orange rinds, banana peels, apple cores, tea bags and other items such as paper.
To create a competitive atmosphere for the project, the girls in the class had a separate bin from the boys. In the end, the girls created more compost than the boys, but the lunchroom workers – who used the third bin to help the children with their project – actually created the most compost.
Master composter Patty Ferriola, of Millstone, helped the children start composting with an initial lecture about how important the process of recycling and composting is. She made weekly visits to the class to assist students in adding their “green” waste, which is food waste, to the “brown” waste consisting of leaves, which was in the bins to start with. Ferriola also showed the students how to keep the compost at an optimum temperature and helped them turn it, which was difficult for them during the winter, according to Milan Afflitto, 9.
PHOTOSBY ERIC SUCAR staff Top, fourth-grade students from Irene Pearson’s class plant a new garden at the Millstone Township Elementary School on May 18. Above, fourth-graders volunteer to help transfer compost they made from its containers to their new garden. Of composting Alex Ringo, 10, said, “Something really icky turning into something even more icky is disgusting, but composting is kind of disgusting and happy at the same time.”
The students watched their waste slowly turn into compost that they ultimately used to make something beautiful on May 18. They used their compost to plant a garden on what was previously a barren flagpole island in the elementary school parking lot.
The students used two handfuls of compost per perennial and annual. They adorned the island with lilies, marigolds, irises, lavender and hostas donated by local gardeners and kousa dogwood trees donated by the Millstone Township Shade Tree Commission.
Fourth-graders Emily Rosenthal (l) and Matt Russo help to put compost on a newly planted tree. Principal Brandy Krueger commended the kids for their work.
“It’s a nice addition,” she said of the new garden, “It’s beautiful to look at.”
Krueger said the students were excited throughout the school year because of the project.
“They just had a really good time doing it,” she said.
Krueger said students often find it easier to remember lessons that are taught through hands-on activities.
“This is something I think they will always remember,” she said. “And they have left the school something to remember them by.”
Pearson said she hopes the students have realized through the lesson how important renewable and reusable energy sources are and how little things like recycling banana peels can influence big change.
Elizabeth Dreifus, 9, said, “I learned that the environment works better for you if you take care of it and that you will get what you want
if you work for it.”
Jennifer Kay, 10, said, “I learned that Earth Day is every day and that to all live together in beauty we have to plant things like this garden.”
Kay said she hopes future generations will be appreciative of the garden she and her classmates planted.
“We really made the school look pretty,” she said.
Ferriola said, “Our children really enjoyed putting their school compost to the test.”
She continued, “The newly established garden at the flagpole island is a beautiful reminder of how a little bit of recycling (composting) goes a long way.
“Our compost buddies truly have made a difference,” she said.

