Sixth form student, Nicole Watson, is excited about her role as president of the St Hugh’s High School Environmental Club.

St Hugh’s is one of the partners in the Recycle for Life (RFL) project, established to reduce litter in Jamaica.

“My school has a strong environmental culture,” says a proud Nicole, “but working with Recycle for Life has given the club that extra push. The members are even more vigilant in carrying out projects.”

She is referring to the PET bottle collection drive being carried out by the school as a partner of RFL.

Under the project, St Hugh’s and other schools receive televisions, computers, paints and other forms of assistance, in exchange for points accumulated by the amount of bottles collected.

She says environmental awareness is nothing new to her as she grew up seeing her grandmother constantly planting trees and making garden beds.

It is no wonder that under the Presidency and with the teachers and students, the grounds of the school are always well-kept. “The Welcome to St Hugh’s’ sign created out of plants and perched on top of a beautifully landscaped mound gives a finishing touch.

“Our groundsman is also well aware of what we are trying to do and makes sure that our collection bins for bottles and for garbage are in place at all times,” added Nicole.

“The environmental culture is so ingrained in St Hugh’s,” she said.

As president, Nicole says she has to constantly come up with creative ideas to keep the interest of the club alive and to show students the merits in proper environmental practices and the difference in the appearance of the school.

Besides their partnering in RFL’s PET bottle collection drive, another project of the school is an adopt-a-tree programme with particular focus on preserving one of Jamaica’s national symbols, the Lignum Vitae Tree.

Each student takes home Lignum Vitae seedlings fallen from a huge tree on the school compound, nurture them, then bring them back for planting on the school property.

“This way we not only preserve our national symbol but replant to replace trees that have to be cut down,” said Nicole.

“The schools in RFL are upbeat about the project,” says Agostinho Pinnock, RFL’s regional co-ordinator.

“They are motivated by the fact that there is an incentive for collecting the bottles. It is a joy for us to hear them say that the equipment they are receiving towards the improvement of the schools are of tremendous help,” he added.