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Schools win some green for being green

Queen Elizabeth and Holy Cross among best at BC Green Games.
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Queen Elizabeth Secondary’s Green Team members remove invasive species of plants from local forests.

Two Surrey high schools have been chosen among the top environmentally active schools in the province.

Holy Cross Regional High School’s Go Green group, made up of about 90 students in Grades 8 to 12, was recognized in the annual BC Green Games for their extensive recycling program, making several symbolic animal adoptions through World Wildlife Fund, organizing an Eco Exchange where students brought in used or unwanted clothing to exchange with other students, picking up trash along the Serpentine River and removing Himalayan blackberry from local parks and gardens.

At Queen Elizabeth Secondary, students were noted for their ongoing eco-friendly efforts such as e-waste recycling of batteries and cellphones, encouraging people to use re-usable water bottles and educating about alternative transportation. They also established the QE Meadows volunteer group which removes invasive species of plants from area parks and replaces them with native plants.

The annual provincewide BC Green Games contest through Science World rewards students for the environmentally conscious things they do at their school or in their community – such as composting, recycling or litter pick up. The projects were posted online and more than 8,000 votes were cast by students, teachers, parents and other community members.

Holy Cross and Queen Elizabeth, which will each receive $1,000 for their school to sustain or start environmental initiatives, were two of 110 secondary and elementary projects submitted for the contest this year. (They can all be viewed at bcgreengames.ca) Top awards were also given to 10 B.C. elementary schools.

Surrey’s Queen Elizabeth Secondary’s Green Team was also one of four high schools to win a Viewer’s Choice and will again receive prize money for their school for that honour.