SHS senior class president Jane Ryan recently established a new club at Scituate High School: the SHS Composting Club. Ryan is most commonly in charge of regulating the compost, but she is often assisted by SHS seniors Cici Griffin, Otto Brenner, Maryn Noble, and many other friends interested in helping. Ryan’s decision to create this club was heavily influenced by her Civics Action Project, which the 8th graders at Gates Middle School are required to complete. Ryan exclaimed, “It wasn’t anything at first, but last year, I decided it would be a good idea to bring it back.”
Ryan’s process of collecting compost each day at SHS includes the help of the SHS kitchen staff. Ryan explained, “Every day, at the end of the third lunch, I go into the cafeteria and only collect food from the kitchen.” With the popular salad bar available each day at school, many scraps are collected. These scraps are then placed in buckets and stored in the kitchen. Three times a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, Ryan collects the 3-gallon buckets from the cafeteria, bringing them outside to the composting bins. While she is dumping the scraps, she also adds leaves and sticks, making the compost the best it can be. Ryan stated, “I didn’t realize how much food would be wasted in the cafeteria each day.” There is hope for a new sense of sustainability in the SHS community.
Ryan said she also utilizes the help of local expert Jon Belber, who “makes the composting happen.” Belber, who is the Director of Farm Education at Cohasset’s Holly Hill Farm, is actively involved in the SHS community. He stated, “I was delighted when Jane Ryan approached me about her composting club and the cafeteria and the kitchen staff.” Belber explained that composting allows for reduced waste and is a tremendous help in creating a natural organic fertilizer while also creating healthy soil for SHS garden beds.
According to Griffin, “It is a great opportunity for the school to work with our local farm and learn about the environment.”
Ryan said she hopes to find a dedicated underclassman committed to continuing and expanding composting once she graduates in the spring.