MAGNET GREENS
Past and Current Projects
Magnet Greens Club doesn't want to wait for change to occur. We incite change. Check out some of our past and current projects.
Recycling
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​Magnet students began recycling some cardboard and paper after Pratt Recycling started the City of Shreveport's Curbside Recycling. When Mrs. Dionne Procell-Brown came to Magnet in 2013, she applied for and received a very generous recycling grant from our local International Paper plant in Mansfield. The Magnet Goes Green campaign began when school groups adopted and painted single-stream recycling bins that were placed around campus. Club members are responsible for emptying the recycle bins each week. As of the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, it is estimated that Magnet has diverted over 1.1 tons of trash from the landfill. Despite the hit on recycling industries in recent months and Pratt's inability to offer single-stream services anymore, we're proud to bring paper and cardboard recycling back this school year, thanks to Renew Waste Solutions. Check out our recycling video on the home page to learn about what and how to recycle at Magnet!
School Landscaping
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Magnet Greens has made some major changes to our beautiful campus in the past few years. In 2017, we started planting a large variety of native and non-native plants in our garden beds. Many plants were donated by the LSU AgCenter, and many more were carefully selected by the Magnet Landscaping Committee and Magnet Greens sponsor, Dionne Procell-Brown, a LSU AgCenter Community Master Gardener.
Students research several of the plants and make interactive plant labels identifying the plant and any historical, scientific, or otherwise interesting facts about the plant. Plant labels have QR codes that take you to a web site encouraging further study. This year we're building a plant inventory that classifies native vs. non-native plants, pollinating plants, etc., and we'll be introducing plants that have unique properties that encourage the Magnet community and our neighborhood friends to make interdisciplinary connections. We're also helping students create a plant map of our school campus and adding numbers to our plant labels.
Community Cleanups​
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Over the years, Greens Club has had multiple cleanup events, where we pick up litter around the school and community. Every year we used to participate in the Red River Cleanup, Shreveport's largest trash cleanup day. We've also coordinated several community cleanups over the past years, including a few held on the MLK, Jr. National Day of Service. A few years ago, we picked up and sorted a great deal of trash on our neighborhood Coates Bluff Nature Trail that connects 3 schools and a City of Shreveport SPAR Community Center. Students sorted the plastic and submitted our data as part of Greenpeace's Plastic Clean-Up and Brand Audit. That was an enlightening and empowering experience for our students and teachers who participated and an even more impactful way to end a trash cleanup! Every year we clean up the Coates Bluff Nature Trail and improve the health of our Red River Watershed.
Martha Street Garden
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Martha Street's "We Grow Together Community Garden" is right across the street from Magnet's campus. In the past we've helped landscape, plant, and clean up the gardens. Some cool things we've done is attend a lesson on composting and help create their key hole garden, which uses compost and "dirty water" to create a more space-efficient garden for a variety of plants, including many vegetables and herbs.
Mardi Gras Bead Drive​
In 2018 Greens Club decided to start a tradition of collecting Mardi Gras beads that students and teachers caught at the parades and giving them back to krewes, so they can reuse them in next year's parades. The initiative was a huge success! In addition, Greens Club sent two of its officers to the Louisiana State Exhibit to give a presentation to elementary school kids on the harmfulness of Mardi Gras beads and ways to make them more eco-friendly. The kids wrote down other types of throws instead of beads they would enjoy. We collect beads throughout the Mardi Gras season and for a couple of weeks after the parades.
The photo booth shown in this collage was painted by greens club, art club, TAPS art, and UNICEF members.
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The photo booth shown in this collage was painted by greens club, art club, TAPS art, and UNICEF members.
World Peace Day
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September 23, 2019 was Magnet's first World Peace Day celebration and the theme was "Cimate Action for Peace". For this event, Greens Club partnered with UNICEF and Girl Up to spread awareness about Climate Action and how that relates to World Peace. The first event attracted more than 200 students and raised $470, some of which was used to pay for recycling at Magnet and other Greens Club efforts. Greens Club is all about making a difference and we hope that through the World Peace Day event we can spread more awareness about Climate Action to the students of Magnet!
National Wildlife Federation Habitat Certification
In 2020, Caddo Magnet High School became a National Wildlife Federation schoolyard wildlife habitat. A variety of native plants were introduced for our pollinating pals in our ever-changing school garden beds. Students built a plant inventory and added water sources (butterfly puddling stations made in Magnet's own pottery studio!) in order to achieve the certification and to encourage more area schools and backyards to follow in our footsteps.
Composting
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Beginning in 2021, Greens Club has been composting the paper collected from classrooms. The paper gets shredded and is then added to the compost bins located at the back of the school along with coffee grounds donated by Rhino Coffee.
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Beginning in 2022, Greens Club has been collecting leftover fruits and vegetables from the cafeteria to add to the compost bins. The goal is to reduce waste created by discarded food.
Pollinator Pathway
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Greens Club has helped expand pollinator-friendly landscaping both on campus and around the Stoner Hill community, specifically around the Valencia Park Community Center. In 2023, we even put Sci-Port's pollinator garden in for them so it stretches further down the road in the Red River Watershed!
Green Ribbon School
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The U.S. Department of Education recognized Caddo Magnet High School as a Green Ribbon School in May of 2022. Only two other schools in Louisiana have this designation. Nationwide, only 26 other schools were chosen to be awarded with this ribbon.
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More information on this designation can be read here.