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Health & Fitness

Hillel Academy Students Celebrate Earth Week with Eco-Walk

Students participated in campus-wide clean up Friday, April 26, 2013

Hillel Academy students and staff participated in a school-wide Eco-Walk on Friday, April 26, 2013. After spending the week studying ecology, kicked off by Earth Day on Monday, April 22, the students were eager to put some of their discoveries into practice. Over the week, students had studied ways they could incorporate green practices into their day-to-day lives by recycling, using less water, and being mindful of waste. They took home handouts to share with their families and a calendar of activities they could follow.

Friday’s Eco-Walk included over one-hundred participants, consisting of the entire Hillel Academy student body, administration and staff. Each student was given gloves and a trash bag. They were assigned an area surrounding the school, throughout the Karl Campus.  Student Council played an active role in the planning and execution of the clean up.

The students had selected the north building school campus as the site of their Eco-Walk because they wanted to clean up the area closest to them first. The Kohl Education Building of the Karl Campus, which is owned by the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, is home to Hillel Academy, as well as Jewish Beginnings Pre-School, and Milwaukee Jewish Day School. Hillel Academy has resided at the state-of-the-art campus for over twenty years. Although the grounds are meticulously maintained, the recent spring weather and subsequent wind and rain had caused debris to accumulate, particularly near the borders of the campus. Student council and administrators identified the areas needing the most care and attention and the Hillel student body went to work.

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The Hillel Academy students spent approximately half an hour traversing across the campus in small groups, with the older grades pairing with younger students to assist them.  They removed trash and debris from the playground, parking lot and surrounding inlet roads including the road that connects with Port Washington Road.

The students collected five extra large trash bags of waste, at an estimated 350 pounds! They were very proud of their efforts to keep the earth clean. The concept of Eco-Walking/Running was started by  Wisconsin school teacher, Samuel Huber and has been adopted by several teachers and classes around the state. Hillel Academy is one of the first schools to hold a school-wide Eco-Walk.

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