GRASONVILLE, Md. — The backyard of Grasonville Elementary School is a unique one.
There's wetlands, a pollinator garden, a raised garden bed and composter. All of the projects are done through the school's GRACIE club, which stands for Grasonville Raises Awareness for Community Interaction with the Environment.
A long name with a simple mission.
"I just want the kids to realize that we’re just trying to make the world a better place," said Billy Richardson, a fifth grade teacher at Grasonville and founder of the GRACIE club.
Fourth and fifth grade students are invited to join the club and Richardson says he has no problem getting them motivated to do projects.
"They want to be outside and they want to be looking at things and they do drawings and its more hands on," he said.
They do a monthly competition to see which grade levels can recycle the most. They raise baby terrapins to release into the wild. And GRACIE club members give presentations to younger students about environmental concerns, like single-use plastics.
Richardson says that also doubles as recruitment.
"They see these kids coming into the classroom, they see them involved, they’re basically school leaders and they want to be a part of it," he said.
One of their big events of the year is Wetlands Day. GRACIE club members organize outdoor activities for the entire school.
"We get to teach other kids about GRACIE and teach them about the environment also," said Kendyll, a fifth grader.
"We give them nets and they get to go in [the wetlands] and find things," said Jocelynn, also a fifth grader. "I just think that’s really fun for them."
That's the goal of GRACIE, to make learning about the environment fun and engaging. And as far as Richardson is concerned, they're just getting started.
"Once you start to look at everything that’s been accomplished, it is a lot and there’s still a lot more that we can do and there’s a lot more that we want to do."
Thanks to the GRACIE club, Grasonville Elementary earned the designation of Green School in 2014, the first school on the Eastern Shore to do so, and has continued to maintain it.
Richardson said they are now in the process of becoming a certified EcoSchool through the National Wildlife Federation.
