Going "Green" at school

At the Allendale Columbia school, this year's theme is sustainability.  Some students are developing green thumbs and are doing it in a "green" way.

"It's a two fold thing.  It's the beautification of the campus, which is a win, win for everybody.  But, it also allows the kids to get outside plant somethings see science first hand," said Tina Duver, a teacher at the school.

Recently, Allendale Columbia purchased two homes near campus.  The now vacant lots are being converted to green space.  Right now, work has begun on a brand new garden there.

"Next year in the science lab we are going to concoct a bunch of things to see what works, what doesn't work but all natural," says Duver. 

And, that's only part of it.  They also have Petunia, the composting pig.  Students in the lower grades have been feeding her food scraps after lunch.

"We put vegetables and fruits in it and we compost it and make like fertilizer for our plants and stuff," says Student Abby Lindsey. 

Petunia was teacher Gabe Costanzo's idea.  "We wanted to make something stick in the kids mind and hopefully they will take something away with that."

From time to time, Petunia gets rolled.  The hope is, next year, she will produce some dirt that students can use and learn from.  "We're going to actually try to grow some vegetables and see if they turn out any better. we suspect they will then being grown in just regular soil," says Costanzo. 

"It's sustainable so it helps our planet", adds Lindsey.