Municipal Services

Go Green

Go Green Week

As part of our efforts to encourage environmental stewardship, the City of Turlock offers various activities and programs to students to teach earth-friendly behaviors. The cornerstone of our school-age public education campaign is the City of Turlock’s “Go Green Week” program.

In 2008, Sandra Tovar Medeiros Elementary School participated in the first-ever “Go Green Week” on April 21st-25th. The program focused on activities to educate students about the importance of environmentally-responsible behavior. Through a partnership involving City staff, teachers, administrators, community organizations, volunteers and parents, students learned about conservation and pollution prevention strategies such as recycling, composting, water conservation and waste reduction activities. The week included activities such as; school site visits by local business representatives, recycling contests, and a “Wear Green Day”. Green bracelets were distributed to every student to wear throughout the entire week. The week is coordinated annually, in conjunction with National Earth Day and coincides with the City of Turlock’s annual “Arbor Day” Tree Planting Celebration. Classroom presentations for every Kindergarten through 6th grade class were conducted throughout the week provided by representatives from local entities such as: California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock Irrigation District, Stanislaus County Department of Education and Department of Environmental Resources as well as the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Turlock Recycling Company, The Great Valley Museum of Natural Science, The Greenery Nursery and The City of Turlock Municipal Services Department. The presentation topics were selected by the teachers to reinforce learning that had already taken place in the classroom. The program concluded with a school assembly on Friday afternoon (with a visit from one of the “Team Green” mascots), where the recycling contest winners were announced and given prizes, and each student became honorary members of the “Team Green” kids club.

Due to the success of Medeiros’ Go Green Week, the 2009 program was expanded to include 7 elementary schools in the Turlock Unified School District. The event was held from April 27th-May 1st, and entailed a variety of presentations, assemblies and activities which were provided by a conglomerate of local community organizations and the City of Turlock staff. An on campus tree planting at Cunningham school, a lady-bug release at Walnut Elementary Education Center and a district-wide recycling contest that generated an enormous 11,200 pounds of recycled material, are amongst a few of the week’s highlights.

In 2010, Go Green Week grew once again to include participation from K-12th grades within the Turlock School District. The program schedules included a variety of student activities including a Go Green Festival at Turlock High School, multiple tree plantings on various campuses, and a district wide “Wear Green Day” on Wednesday, April 28th.

Response from school site coordinators and administrators has been overwhelmingly positive. Bret Sutterley, the Walnut Elementary School Go Green Week school liaison commented “Thank you so much for all your organization and preparations to make Go Green (Week) a success not only at Walnut, but for our entire district. You are to be commended for creating a wonderfully important opportunity for children. We at Walnut are so fortunate to have you in our community. I appreciate your taking on such and enormous task, and for making it all go so smoothly. Our children are now more than ever aware of the importance of caring not only for our resources in Turlock, but also as citizens of our Planet Earth.”

For approximately $1.61 per child and $1.47 per participant, Go Green Week (2009) helped to engage youth citizens of Turlock in individual and collective activities to improve their health, to improve their schools and to inspire participation in building solutions for a sustainable future. By recognizing that our future success is tied to their understanding and acceptance of socially just endeavors, Go Green Week aimed to educate the children of today’s society in order to instill a sense of responsibility for the quality of living in Turlock in the future.

City of Turlock Go Green Week Program Highlights

2008

• 1 Campus- Sandra Tovar Medeiros Elementary
• Presentations to every classroom on Monday-Thursday (Topics = water conservation, recycling, Earth’s resources, Agriculture, etc.)
• Recycling Contest
• Awareness Bracelets
• Wear Green Day
• Wrap-up assembly on Friday- mascot, contest winner announcement

2009

• 7 campuses (elementary)
• Presentation program varied at each school
• All Campuses:
  • Awareness Bracelets
  • Wear Green Day
  • Recycling Contests
• Highlights:
  • 11,200 lbs. of recycled paper collected throughout the week
  • WQC/Turlock Recycling Tour hosted
  • student outreach of approx. 5500
  • Tree planting at Cunningham

2010

• K-12 grade participation
• Presentation program varied at each school
• April 26th-30th
• Wear Green Day
• Recycling, Music Video and Logo/Art contests
• Various Tree plantings on multiple campuses
• Student outreach of approx. 8300+
• Held in conjunction with City’s Annual Arbor Day Celebration

Go Green Week Testimonials