Congratulations to Bethany Ecroyd from St Christophers Sixth Form College in Accrington for winning this year’s Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots Award for Individual Endeavour! This is a quite impressive feat considering there are around 1,500 schools in the UK which take part in the Roots and Shoots programme, and who knows how many students.

In recognition for all the work and effort Bethany has put in over the year, Quest Overseas is delighted to be awarding her with a fully funded place on one of our summer project teams in 2012. She has to decide between working with wild animals in Bolivia, building sand dams in Kenya, putting on stage shows for kids in Peruvian shanty towns, among others.

Read below her letter of recommendation from one of her teachers, I’m sure you’ll agree that she is a worthy winner – well done!

Click here to find out more about the Roots and Shoots movement in the UK.

Nomination for Bethany Eckroyd, aged 17 years

St Christopher’s Sixth Form
Queens Road West
Accrington
Lancashire
BB5 4AY

Over the past 3 years, Bethany has assisted the eco group in various activities. However since her election as school Eco Captain in June this year, she has excelled herself in all aspects of environmental work.

She has co-ordinated lower school activities at dinnertime, following many of the roots n shoots ideas. She has designed a school calendar with growing advice and recipes to suit the seasonal produce available. She has given assemblies to all ages at school and motivated pupils to follow the sustainable lifestyle.

She helped lower school pupils incredibly with our ‘pledge 4 veg’ project working behind the scenes. This project alone has saved the equivalent hydrocarbon energy as 1.5kg of coal per starter pot we gave away. We gave away over 1,000 of these, so saving the equivalent energy of over 1,500kg of coal. Jane Goodall herself, signed up in December 2010 and her name alone convinced nearly 2,000 people to follow suit. This not only got people growing their own and exercising more, but eating healthier and hopefully adopting the principles of organic gardening which we promote, to ensure that we garden in harmony with the Earth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=aMWH55bm_-g

Her enthusiasm and leadership qualities were evident on a team building day at a local outdoor pursuit centre, in July 2011. She motivated younger pupils to complete tricky courses and encouraged those scarred of height on the leap of faith. Team work was needed for problem solving and she allowed the younger ones to take the lead, whilst encouraging them to work together.

Within school, she campaigned for the construction of a 46′ x 16′ polytunnel (which will be constructed in November) and new recycling facilities in our new sixth form, which has gone on the win the Ground work Lancashire ‘Green building of the year Award’ in recognition of the children’s input into the design, the doubling of minimum standards of renewable energy and all wood sourced sustainable (checked by Greenpeace!).

Recently we have collected old school text books, books and games to be sent out to Sierra Leone to a school which was devastated by the war. We helped to fill a container which is presently being shipped out, to help those less fortunate than ourselves. This complemented much of the schools charity work, including supporting the shining faces orphanage in India.

She will be co-ordinating our next phase of outdoor work at school, as we endeavour to build an outdoor seating area, sourced sustainably and locally where possible and planting indigenous trees and plants to encourage the wildlife we have at school, both for their benefit, our enjoyment and the hope they will help us out with out garden, pollinating trees and plants. To ensure ownership of this outdoor space all year groups are involved overseen by our eco captains.

Bethany has combined her knowledge of farming and the countryside with a passion for food (she excels at food technology A level) and good local produce and is inspiring her fellow pupils to make small changes to their lifestyles which will ultimately add up to massive leaps forward for our school community. Her work extends beyond school, helping out in village fairs and venture scouts. Her actions are not for self gain but for the progression of the majority.

I recommend her to you.

Wendy Litherland

Director of Sustainability
St Christopher’s CE High School and Sixth Form