Typically, capstone projects at George H.W. Bush New Tech Odessa are the culmination of students’ four-year career at the school.
But this year due to COVID-19, those projects are being completed as a class instead of as individuals. Recycling is the initiative.
The school’s website says the capstone experience is embedded in the NTO four-year journey and career experience.
“This is the culminating academic event for all senior learners. Learners demonstrate and present their work completed in the four-year academic program at NTO, their community involvement, career experience and mastery of the NTO SWLOs (school wide learning outcomes) in the Capstone experience presentation,” the site said.
Seniors Breanna Galindo, Emmanuel Garcia and Walter Martinez, all 17, and junior Angela Aguirre, also 17, are just a few of the students involved.
Aguirre is part of the student council. She said the recycling initiative has been promoted throughout campus and students are buying in.
Project-based research facilitator Valentina Rivera said they are recycling plastic water bottles currently and hope to add more items in the future. They are working with Keep Odessa Beautiful, which she said supplied recycling bins.
“I feel like the benefit of recycling is of just going green and having some consideration and some thought for what’s around (us), of what things we need to take care of and things we could do better at (in) preserving the world that we live in,” Aguirre said.
This being his senior year of high school, Martinez said he just wanted to help the community.
“It will definitely help instead of just throwing it (in the) regular trash where it’s going to waste. They will be able to make it into something else and reuse it. It’s better for us, better for the Earth,” Martinez said.
Galindo said they haven’t been able to do as much as previous senior classes so it feels good to be able to do something
“Like she said, it’s a big project this year because usually we’d be having our own individual things but I think it’s cool that we still get to do this together and as a whole class,” Garcia said. “I think it’s really good this year because … we’re also reaching out to our campuses and reach out to our families so we can recycle as much as possible.”
Rivera said students are currently attending school virtually and in person. Normally they devise individual projects.
“When we started brainstorming what projects were out there for us to do, that we could share among the virtual students and the face to face students. … We thought about the recycling, and then of course the student council they’re always doing some good stuff for the community, too. We talked it over and figured out that it’s something the whole school can do no matter what happens, if we all go virtual or we all stay face to face,” Rivera said.
The student council or some of the seniors pick up the recycled products and there are volunteers that drop them off at the recycling center.
Sometimes she’ll let the seniors know they can drop off the items to be recycled in the back of her truck and she takes them to the recycling center.
Rivera said the project started before Christmas break and cardboard boxes were used. They got the blue plastic recycling bins about two weeks ago making the project more official.
“We will be keeping a spreadsheet of how much we recycle,” Rivera said. “That is something Keep Odessa Beautiful has asked us to do. Hopefully, between Ms. Thurber and myself we can continue for years to come.”
Thurber is Ariel Thurber, digital media and student leadership facilitator.
“It’s opened up a little bit of awareness,” Rivera said. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”
