DHEC names Walhalla High as Champion of the Environment

By Greg Oliver – Daily Journal March 4, 2009
WALHALLA — A project conducted by students in a Biology II class at Walhalla High School has led to the school’s recent recognition by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) as a Champion of the Environment.
The state agency recognized the class, taught by Barbara Nicodemus, for its “Bluebirds on Our Shoulders” project. Lynn LaSalle, coordinator for Champions of the Environment, said teams of students will establish a trail of bluebird nest boxes, plant food plants and nesting materials and educate the community. Not only will this help the bluebirds and other local wildlife, she said the project will also empower students as they play a part in improving the environment.
“Walhalla High’s Biology II classes want to enhance the survival of bluebirds in their community,” LaSalle said.
Walhalla High Principal Evie Hughes said the Biology II students will receive $500 for supplies and be featured on a commercial to run on television stations in Columbia and Charleston.
“Walhalla High School is very excited to receive the Champions of the Environment award,” Hughes said.
Champions of the Environment has been rewarding South Carolina’s kindergarten through 12th-grade students and teachers since 1993. Support for the program comes from a federal agency, several DHEC environmental bureaus and private businesses. Champions is partially funded through Section 319 of the Clean Water Act, which aims to reduce polluted runoff and improve water quality. More than $10,000 is awarded to K-12 students and teachers for environmental action. The two ways to become a champion are: through the Grant Award Program, that rewards projects that help the environment and which allows students, teachers and environmental educators to apply to win $500, and the Environmental Awareness Middle School Competition that rewards student creativity and environmental knowledge.
The middle school competition is for students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades, and first- through third-place winners receive U.S. Savings Bonds.
Walhalla High School is no stranger to the Champion award. In 2007, then ninth-grade student Seth Mangan was named as a Champion of the Environment for organizing volunteers from his Boy Scout troop and community to protect water quality in Cane Creek and Lake Keowee. Morgan marked storm drains with the message “Don’t Dump — Drains to Creek” — to inform the public about the storm drain-to-waterway connection.