Building a sustainable future begins with the hands and hearts of our children; their participation today shapes the planet we will all inherit tomorrow.
Green Team is a student and volunteer organization dedicated to making University Park Elementary a more sustainable and earth-friendly community through education and action. The goal of the initiative is to reduce waste and use of energy through recycling, composting and reusing. The initiative is promoted school-wide as an everyday model of action.
Green Team is UPark’s largest student organization with 30-40 students in Kindergarten through 5th grade participating each year. Students participate in bi-monthly Wednesday morning meetings 8-8:40am. It is free to join and led by parent and teacher volunteers. Parents, guardians and siblings of students are welcome to participate and help at meetings as well.
Through fun and interactive activities, Green Team members learn ways to protect the
environment such as reducing waste, reusing materials, recycling, composting, saving
energy and using sustainable materials. Green Team members participate in and
promote school wide activities and initiatives such as using the playground waste
stations, snack wrapper collections in classrooms, plastic film drives, holiday
decoration up-cycling contest, and helping in the community garden. Participating in
Green Team is a simple way for students to gain leadership skills by championing
initiatives in their classrooms and throughout the school.
Meeting dates for Spring 2025: January 22nd, February 5th, February 19th, March 5th, March 19th, April 2nd, April 16th, April 30th, May 14th, May 28th
If your student is interested in participating in Green Team, email
uparkgreenteam@gmail.com.
Green Team leads partner with UPark staff to promote school-wide recycling efforts. At
UPark, waste stations are located in the lunchroom and on the playground. Sorting
categories at each location include:
In 2024, the Green Team secured a grant that funded the replacement of playground trash cans with waste-sorting stations. Students can now recycle and compost during snack recess in addition to before and after school use of the playground. To learn how to use these stations when on the blacktop with your student, watch this video and read the signs posted at each station.
IMPORTANT NOTE- please do not bring trash or recycling from home to dispose of at these waste stations. Stations are emptied weekly by volunteers and the PTA pays for the recycling process.
Each day students sort their waste at the end of their lunch period using the bins in the lunchroom. Facilities management, staff and adult volunteers all help students sort their waste properly to reduce contaminating recycling or compost.
Many volunteers are needed to help sort in the lunchroom and sort/empty playground waste stations. All parents, adult family members, community members and staff are able to participate. Sorting waste correctly is extremely important because if items are not sorted correctly, the entire batch is then unusable and will need to be thrown away in the landfill. The recycling of wrappers and plastic film at UPark is only possible with regular volunteer support.
All DPS volunteers require a background check (that must be done each school year) prior to any volunteer shift. Background checks can be completed through this link. Click the blue banner titled “Volunteer Background Check Portal” to complete your background check.
Annually, UPark’s composting program keeps about 15,000 pounds of organic materials out of landfills. During the first semester of the 2024-2025 school year, 20 pounds of wrappers and 13 pounds of plastic film have been successfully recycled.
The UPark Green Team staff coordinators are first grade teachers Kari Hale and Mallory Gutierrez, and our parent coordinators are Ashton Reppert (student team leader) and Christina Baker-Sparr (manager of sorting efforts of the lunchroom and playground waste stations).
If interested in learning more about the UPark Green Team or becoming a Green Team
volunteer, please email uparkgreenteam@gmail.com.
Green Team receives support from the Denver Public Schools Sustainability
Management Plan, Denver Recycles and Green Up Our Schools.