NEW SCOTLAND — Seventh-graders in Voorheesville have taken their lessons in writing and public service to heart by raising social awareness and funds for issues they care about.

One seventh-grader, Gabrielle Dowd, is a finalist in a national essay contest for her environmental efforts. Other students have followed guidance by their teachers to extend generosity to others.

Dowd, following the advice of her former teacher, focused her efforts over the last year on convincing school administrators to eliminate Styrofoam from district cafeterias, and on enlisting the help of her elected representatives. Because of her efforts, the Voorheesville Elementary School has gone back to washing and re-using plastic trays instead of Styrofoam.

Dowd, who made headlines twice last year — once for approaching the town board about her right to raise chickens and then for addressing the school board on her right to safe food — used her experiences to further social action. She contacted New York State Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, and entered a national essay contest.

This month, Dowd was selected as a finalist for the Nature’s Voices Project with her essay “Styrofoam — Yuck!”

“Her English teacher, Mrs. Emily George… really inspired Gabby and we are extremely thankful for her. She deserves tons of kudos [and] is the one who knew about the contest and suggested that Gabby enter,” Putnam said.

“Styrofoam…Really? Poison!” Dowd wrote. “This is what Styrofoam trays are to humans. Plastic foam contains toxins such as benzene and styrene which can be harmful to human health, especially during manufacturing and when the foam is heated. If this is the case, then why are kids served hot foods on 1 Styrofoam trays with their school lunch? Not to mention hot soup and hot coffee in Styrofoam bowls and cups? Why do we still even make Styrofoam? We are smarter than that.”

In June, Dowd addressed the school board after doing a sixth-grade persuasive writing essay on the subject.

Sugar cane-based trays are safer and can be composted, she said then. The alternate trays cost 15 cents each, but the cost can be reduced to 4 cents if purchased in bulk with other schools, she said.

“I know the school’s broke,” she said in June, urging the board to consider student safety.

“What is less safe than getting cancer?” she asked.

“I think this is something that our district should be looking at,” said retiring business official Sarita Winchell then. “Thank you for bringing it to our attention.”

“It’s illegal for restaurants to use Styrofoam,” Dowd said in June, referring to an Albany County ban on the material.

“I love the food in my school. I’d love it even more if it were on compostable trays,” Dowd said.

Since then, Dowd’s mother, Tricia Putnam told The Enterprise in an email, “The cost differential for the trays is about $6,000 per year.”

In her essay, Dowd wrote, “Due to my efforts, the school district made changes at our elementary school in September 2015. They went back to using the reusable, washable plastic trays when they have extra staff!”

The secondary schools remained a problem for Dowd.

“I… feel disappointed,” Dowd’s essay continued, “and kind of confused — why do we still have Styrofoam at our middle school/high school (and sometimes at the elementary school)? We know Styrofoam isn’t safe for us to eat off of nor for our environment. I know the school is trying. We met with… Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations [James] Franchini and… Superintendent [Brian] Hunt, but learned it’s too expensive to hire an additional person at the middle school/high school to wash trays.”

“The district has spent a considerable amount of time and energy in our effort to reduce the use of Styrofoam trays,” Franchini wrote in an email to The Enterprise this week.  “For example, as of September 2015, we now utilize plastic, reusable trays in the elementary school.  In order to do this, we adjusted where and how we were using our food service employees.

“The issue in our middle school and high school,” Franchini continued, “is not the one-time expenses, such as purchasing plastic trays or fixing our dishwasher.  Instead, the main issue is the recurring costs.  Namely, because all of current employees in the kitchen are fully scheduled during their shifts, we would have to hire an additional employee dedicated to the collection, washing, drying, and distribution of the plastic trays.  The hiring of another staff member would be a cost that the district would have every year, which is especially prohibitive when you factor in that person's health insurance.”

Dowd took her cause to Assemblywoman Fahy, who has worked on “green” issues in schools.

“If we replaced the Styrofoam trays with a ‘greener’ option, it will cost about $6,000 more per year,” Dowd emailed to Fahy. “If we changed to the washable, plastic trays, the school would need to buy the trays, a dishwasher, and hire a person.  I’m so sad that the system works this way.  I imagine the cost to our health and the environment from our school using Styrofoam is much more than $6,000!”  

“I fully agree with you on the subject and would like to see all schools move away from Styrofoam use,” Fahy wrote to Dowd, in emails shared with The Enterprise. “New York City banned the use of Styrofoam in their schools in the last couple of years and, while it has been more expensive, I seem to recall it has been helpful and successful, so you may want to add this to your research. 

“I encourage you to advocate with your local district,” Fahy continued, “as it is within their authority make this change and efforts statewide have been unsuccessful in the past, because of opposition on costs and unfunded state mandates.  I will however follow up with the bill sponsor in the assembly, [and] my New York City colleagues.”

Being a finalist has encouraged Dowd in her classroom writing and in her social activism, she said.

“The Styrofoam situation got me really mad and believed I could make a difference,” Dowd told The Enterprise in an email.  “When speaking at the board of education meeting, I was really nervous. But, once I finished, I felt elated, like I could do anything. And, then, the school made a change at the elementary school.”

“I was like, ‘Oh, I did it!’ ” Dowd wrote. “I was mostly happy for the health of the students.  And, I felt like I accomplished something huge. If this writing contest helps my efforts to get Styrofoam out of the middle school and high school, I will feel over-the-moon excited, and less nervous about getting cancer from the trays.  Who knows, maybe others will see the story and make changes as well?  Can you imagine that?”

Awareness

In December, Voorheesville students focused on generosity as part of their annual theme of “paying it forward.”

“ ‘Pay it forward’ is when you do a good deed to help other people/organizations,” the students wrote to a local humane society, for which they raised money.

“The kids really enjoyed this experience and did awesome,” math teacher Allysa Seaburg wrote to The Enterprise in an email.

Kids raised money for Pennies for Paws in December, holding a bowling event where kids with per-pin donations tracked their scores and collected money, Seaburg and her team wrote. The 81 seventh-graders raised $1,063.75. 

The students will split the funds among the Capital District Humane Association, the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, and the Animal Protective Foundation, with each receiving $354.

Seventh-graders this year have also attended workshops like Play Away with DNA, Underground Railroad, and Frightening Fiction.