Alumni Team up to share message of sustainability
2007 University of Wisconsin Oshkosh graduate Margaret LaBorde is putting her
degree in environmental studies to work in a tiny town in El
Salvador.
A Peace Corps environmental education
volunteer, LaBorde has been in El Salvador just over a year,
and already has led several
positive environmental changes in her community of 200 residents,
El Chile, near the southeast corner of the country.
One of her first initiatives was building
relationships with students at the local high school, which
is a 25-minute walk
from her home in El Chile, El Salvador.
The students were excited to get involved,
and worked with LaBorde to build two tree nurseries at the
school. The
project was a joint effort with the municipal government
and a non-governmental
organization, Amigos de la Tierra (Friends of the Earth).
“First, we planted 500 almond seeds,”
she said. “The kids were responsible for watering them 3 times
a day
and for
taking
care of the seedlings.”
The students, with LaBorde’s help, also
coordinated a successful reforestation project and transplanted
hundreds
of trees
into deforested areas of the community.
Recently, LaBorde led the development
of a second nursery – this time growing mango trees.
“We started by soliciting seeds from
a seed bank in a nearby city and soliciting bags from the municipal
government,”
she said. “We’ve been able to do things with
very
few
monetary
resources.”
The children worked with LaBorde to make
organic fertilizer from a mixture of ashes, dried leaves,
green leaves/vegetable
husks, dirt, coffee grinds and manure.
“We mixed that with dirt, and then took
the kids to a cemetery where tiny mango trees had
germinated
underneath
a big
one,” she said.
They brought 80 seedlings back to the
nursery and plan to transplant them soon.
On the horizon is teaching the children
how to make organic pesticides, which
LaBorde hopes to apply
to the school’s
growing nursery.
She also coordinates two environmental
groups – one at the high school and
the other at
the elementary
school.
“We planned a big Earth Day celebration
together in April, and I teach lessons
to different
classes on
various environmental
topics at the teachers' requests,”
she said.
She also is developing a recycling
and trash pick-up program for her
community.
“Like most rural communities here,
people burn their trash or throw
it in the streets
because
there aren’t
any other
options,” she said.
Years ago, most trash was organic,
so items did not pollute rivers
and streets
to a
great extent.
“Now many things come in plastic
or Styrofoam packages, so
pollution is
a real problem.”
LaBorde educates area children
by playing a little game.
She asks them
to guess
the rate
at which
garbage decomposes.
“They have to guess how
many days it takes for
a banana
peel, plastic
bag,
piece of
wood, tin
can
and glass
bottle take
to decompose,” she said.
Many kids have no idea
that it takes hundreds
of years
for some
materials,
so the game
becomes a
teaching opportunity.
“It’s a great opportunity
to teach them the importance
of
recycling,
reusing, not throwing
trash in
the streets and
managing our
waste.”
LaBorde carries her own
trash to town and places
it in
a community garbage
bin.
“I get many odd looks,
but it also generates
many questions,
which
give me the opportunity
to explain
the harm of
burning trash or
throwing it on the ground,”
she said. “It
gives
us all something
to think about.”
LaBorde works with
area youth, too
LaBorde helps with
projects outside
the environmental
realm, too.
So far, she
led the formation
of a youth group
and
art club for area
children.
“These children
were among my
first friends
when I
arrived,” she
said.
Some of the children’s
favorite activities
are catch and
the card game,
Uno.
“I brought
it with me
and it's
been
a great
teaching/recreational
tool.”
Peace Tiles
project
shared with fellow
ES graduate
LaBorde
worked
with her
friend
and
fellow
UW
Oshkosh
environmental
services
alumna
Jessi
Dressen,
to accomplish
an art
project
exchange.
The exchange
was part
of Peace
Tiles,
which
encourages
children
throughout
the world
to create
art that
inspires
social
change.
Dressen,
who
earned her
UW
Oshkosh degree
in
2007 like
LaBorde,
served
in
AmeriCorps from
October
2007
until
August
2008.
Her
assignment took
her
to Seattle,
Wash.,
where
she
worked
with
high
school
students
through
Seattle
Parks
and
Recreation outdoor
education,
recreation
and
stewardship
programs.
Part
of
her
AmeriCorps
service
required
a
community action
project
as
an
extension
to
giving
back
to
the
community.
That
is
where
LaBorde
came
in.
“Since
my good
friend, Margaret,
was working
in El
Salvador with
high school
students as
well, I
thought it
would be
a great
opportunity to
teach our
students about
global awareness
through art,”
Dressen said.
Dressen
and LaBorde
asked their
respective student
groups to
create paintings
and collages
to exchange.
“The
students really
seemed to
enjoy the
project, and
they created
wonderful messages
through their
art,” Dressen
said.
LaBorde
agrees. “I
think it
was a
great success,”
she said.
“All of
the kids
really enjoyed
the project.”
The
AmeriCorps experience
was not
Dressen’s first
volunteer service
project.
“I
joined AmeriCorps
because the
summer before
I joined,
I had
spent the
summer in
Arkansas through
a similar
program called
the Student
Conservation Association,
and it
was the
best time
of my
life!” she
said.
After
the AmeriCorps
assignment ended
in August,
Dressen returned
to Wisconsin
for a
brief time,
but just
last month
packed up
her car
and drove
west again.
“I
am moving
back to
Seattle to
continue in
the field
of environmental-based
education with
youth,” she
said. “It’s
all about
making a
positive impact
on the
future of
our environment.
