FIEGE awards third environmental prize to elementary schools
The Josef Fiege Foundation has honoured three elementary schools in Greven, Münster and Emsdetten with its environmental prize. The award, which was presented for the third time, recognises special projects in which students and their teachers are committed to sustainability and environmental protection.
All good things come in threes: the Josef Fiege Foundation has once again presented its environmental prize to elementary schools in the Münsterland region. First place, worth €1,000, was awarded to the Montessori Elementary School in Münster for its composting project. Second place, worth €500, went to the school garden project of Greven's Catholic Elementary School St. Joseph , while the Joseph School in Emsdetten came in third with an initiative against felt-tip pens and received €250 in prize money.
The awards relate to the year 2024, but due to scheduling reasons, they could first be presented to the schools in January and February. Christoph Mangelmans, who together with Martina Schlottbom, Kai Alfermann and Frank Sievers forms the board of the Josef Fiege Foundation, says: “We have now presented the environmental award for the third time. And every year we are impressed by the diverse commitment and the special awareness with which children get involved in the topic of sustainability at such a young age. We hope that we can further promote this motivation and interest through our environmental prize.”
Chances for this are not bad, because the projects and working groups won a visit to the ‘MExLab ExperiMINTe’ in addition to the prize money. The educational institution of the University of Münster and networking point of the ‘Kinder forschen Münster’ foundation, with which the Josef Fiege Foundation regularly cooperates, serves as an extracurricular STEM learning centre for children and young people. Sabine Weßling, coordinator of the “Kinder forschen Münster” networking point at the “MExLab ExperiMINTe”, explains: ‘We are pleased that we can complement the environmental prize with our offer and that we will soon be welcoming the winning classes to our experimental laboratory. In the MExLab, pupils can get to the bottom of scientific phenomena and further develop their passion for research."
More than 50 elementary schools in the Münsterland region were able to apply for the 2024 environmental prize. The Montessori Elementary School in Münster stood out the most with its project ‘Kitchen, Compost, Climate Protection’. In this project, the gardening workgroup is teaming up with many industrious worms to turn vegetable waste from the school kitchen into valuable soil. How the humus is built up and how climate-damaging CO2 is bound in the process, the kids can observe in a compost viewing box that they built together with project manager Nastassja Ott and teachers Sarah Fransbach and Ansgar Jansen. Dr Esther Grindel, pedagogical head of the Montessori Elementary School in Münster, says: ‘Our project is a great example of how we can inspire our pupils to embrace sustainability and integrate sustainability issues into everyday school life. We are very pleased about the recognition and will use the prize money to further promote environmental protection at our school."
Second place with prize money of €500 went to Joseph School in Greven. In their lovingly tended school garden, the kids can experience nature in a positive way, get to know typical animal and plant species, and understand ecological relationships. Each class takes care of its own flower bed. Teacher Anja Brockfeld, who is in charge of the project and was supported by trainee teacher Fiona Rieck during this school year, says: “We are delighted and very grateful for the Josef Fiege Foundation's recognition. Initiatives for sustainable development such as our school garden are already an integral part of our school programme. The environmental prize encourages us and gives us further opportunities to continue this commitment so that we can ensure that our students develop an awareness of sustainability, climate and environmental protection at an early stage in our children's rights school.”
In third place was the Joseph School Emsdetten, which was awarded prize money of €250 for its recycling project. In order to raise awareness of the environmental pollution caused by felt-tip pens, the third-year students, under the leadership of their teachers Melanie Rupprecht, Karoline Guthke and Christina Veith, produced the short film ‘Der Stifteschreck’ (The Pen Horror). Their intention was to motivate all their fellow students to voluntarily give up felt-tip pens. Rupprecht says: ‘We were very happy to welcome the Josef Fiege Foundation and to receive the environmental prize. The award is a great appreciation for our pupils and has shown everyone how important it is that we work together for an intact environment. A big thank you also on behalf of all our little future heroes – our motto remains: Be a change, be part of it: felt-tip pen free!"
