Every day, a few students roam the halls of Marshfield High School with a cart, emptying every recycling bin as they go. These students have been selected by their teacher, James Johnson, to be a part of a curriculum called Work Skills. 

“Recycling is a way for students on my caseload to gain experience working and prepare them for life after high school,” said Johnson.

This curriculum not only helps the students on their way to receiving a high school diploma, but prepares them to go out into the world with some experience under their belt to get a job. By taking part in this hands-on curriculum, students are able to get outside of the classroom and develop a solid foundation of work experience. 

“The students go out in small groups of about five or six and take turns leading the group to make sure everything runs smoothly,” says Johnson. 

By switching off who leads the recycling team, everyone gets the opportunity to learn leadership skills that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. 

“We recycle daily, during the first period usually,” says student Ryan McLeod. 

In total, it takes 30 minutes to finish taking out the recycling for every classroom. After the recycling is collected, it is taken out to the big recycling container back behind the school. Items considered recycling are paper, cardboard, or certain other undamaged materials. 

One main challenge these students face is contamination. Sometimes people mistakenly put non-recyclable items in the recycling bin which can contaminate the entire batch. To overcome this, the students need to be able to determine what is recyclable or undamaged and what isn’t. People need to be educated about what can and cannot be recycled. When cans, bottles or other trash is placed in a recycling bin, it creates more of a challenge for the students. 

Not only is this curriculum beneficial to the students but it can be a fun and rewarding task as well. 

  “It helps me get exercise,” said McLeod, “It helps our school and planet be cleaner.”