Danielle DOnofrio
Lydia Stocks
Bailey Zyvith
Composting at Hilburn Academy
Our field placement was at Hilburn Academy in Raleigh, NC in two diverse Kindergarten
classrooms. Hilburn is Wake Countys only PreK to 8th grade program and maintains a STEAM
(science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) focus. We see Hilburn as a great location to
begin social change, particularly environmental change, as they are already leaders in Wake
County. Recycling is seen as a mostly common practice throughout schools and communities,
but recycling does not provide a method for reuse/repurpose for all items. Creating a composting
program is a great addition to an already established recycling program because both have the
3Rs in mind: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Due to the large student population by having both an
elementary and middle school, Hilburn is the ideal place to begin implementing a composting
program.
want to create global citizens. Composting creates rich soil that is strong in moisture that helps
plants fight off diseases. By composting, we can lower our carbon footprint as methane
emissions from landfills are reduced. Composting allows for healthier plants and a healthier
Week 1:
1. Discuss with cooperating teachers. The first thing we must do is get an understanding of
what state the school is in when it comes to composting. We can do this by observing the
habits of our classrooms and by asking our cooperating teachers about opportunities for
2. Define composting. Composting is not something that most people do at the homes or
see a lot in the public. Students, especially young kindergarteners, may not have ever
heard of composting before. We need to define composting for our students. Tell them
about what it is, what they can compost, and the benefits that come from composting. An
engaging way to do this might be to read a book about composting or watch a video.
this we can plan fun activities about composting that include coloring items that we could
compost, counting items throughout the day that are compostable, and more.
Week 2:
1. Start in the classroom. The best place to start this composting is in our classrooms. We
can have class-sized composting bins that we as a class use at lunch and snack time.
2. Track our progress. We can create a chart to hang in the classrooms where we can log
how much composting that we have done. This will be an engaging way for students to
quantify how much they have composted since we got our class bin.
Week 3:
1. Partner with another classroom. There will be two kindergarten classrooms with
composting bins for their classrooms. This is a great opportunity for students to
cooperate with friends outside of their own classroom and for them to start to see how
2. Introduce it to other classrooms. Each class that has been composting can take their bin
and chart and share about their composting success with another classroom who is not yet
3. Share it with administration. The students can also share their composting successes
with the school administration. They can also share their vision of seeing composting
Week 4:
1. Share it with the school. Students can create posters, flyers, and other means of
spreading information to post around the school about composting and how they can
incorporate it into their classrooms. It will also be important to share how other
To make these steps happen we must first collaborate with our mentor teachers and then
with the kindergarten team at Hilburn. It is really helpful that we are collaborating between two
classrooms at Hilburn to create this social action plan. The key collaboration will be between
our classrooms and our mentor teachers. We will also need to collaborate with school
need for composting and the benefits of composting in our school. We will need them to be
supportive of the campaign and we will need their help getting composting bins in every
classroom.
Individuals, like the administration, may resist this social change if they are concerned
with the costs of composting. They might be concerned that it will cost a lot to get a compost
bin in every classroom or that it will cost a lot to actually compost what is collected in the bins.
To respond to this resistance, we will weigh the costs against the benefits and prove to them that
program will not be very difficult to do. We need to not only inform ourselves about what
composting is but also the school and cooperating teachers that would like to take part in this
program. There are several resources that we will need from the school and the community. We
will need to find a place to take the compost to once it is collected. This could be a local compost
plant, a community garden or the teachers themselves that would like to take it home to their
own gardens. We will also need compost bins for each classroom and food to put in the compost
bins. The food can come from lunch, snack, the cafeteria or students who may bring items from
Our desired outcome for this project is to have Hilburn Academy start and continue a
composting program. We want this program to be able to benefit the school as well as the
surrounding community. Our hope is that a participating compost plant will continue their
corporation and disperse the compost around the community. We want the school to be able to
have a place to put their food scraps because they already have a place to put their scrap paper.
We would like our program to benefit the environment as well because the compost can be used
to grow new plants and food that can eaten. Our environment and community can both benefit
from this program and we would love to see less food and scraps being thrown in the trash and
distinguished the difference between which items could be used for composting and which could
not. Both Kindergarten classrooms now utilize compost bins on a weekly basis where they will
fill up the bin with food that they learned could be reused. At the end of the week, these bins will
be brought outside to Hilburns composting station where the bins will be emptied, and filled up
again for the following week. These compost bins have been incredibly educational tools due to
the fact that each week these Kindergarten students are taking initiative to make their community
a better place, while simultaneously reviewing scientific content about the environment.
Future steps to take at Hilburn would be to expand this composting project to be utilized
to some capacity to every single classroom. A great way to build classroom and school
community would be to have every grade level compete to see who fills their compost bin each
week with the most reusable food, and the winning grade would receive a fun prize that shows
appreciation for their efforts. This would be a friendly way to build community among the grade
levels, as well as build motivation to keep up with the composting initiative. This project will
provoke inquiry about composting as well as other environmental issues that can be improved
upon in their school. Our long term goal is for Hilburn to become more aware of their
environmental impact and take action through composting to build classroom engagement in
scientific content.