Local Quaker middle school gets the Green Flag

In September 2003, Thornton Friends Middle School will be honored by the Center for Health Environment and Justice's Green Flag Schools program. A pilot school in the Green Flag program, the Thornton School is proud of its environmental commitment. It works to improve school indoor air quality; stop the use of toxic products; and of course, reduce, reuse, and recycle.

An honorary Green Flag award will be presented to the school. Students involved will also be honored with prizes and awards.

Thornton Friends School's science program works from the belief that humankind must respect the earth and take responsibility for use of its resources, and make sure that those resources are available for the future.

To help students understand the importance of preserving the environment, Thornton will begin using a new Mobile Science Lab this school year. The mobile lab will allow students to travel to locations around the area and collect air, soil, and water samples. Students will test their samples to find what polllutants exist and where they might have come from, and what could be done to improve the air, soil and water quality of the locations.