Brewster High Students Recognized for Being Civic Minded

March 8, 2023 Examiner Media

Brewster High School students are civic minded–and now they can be formally recognized.

The high school was approved as a Seal of Civic Readiness School by the New York State Department of Education. The Seal of Civic Readiness is a formal recognition that a student has attained a high level of proficiency in terms of civic knowledge, civic skills, civic mindset, and civic experiences. The distinction appears on high school transcripts and diplomas. This year, more than 100 students at the high school are on track to receive the Seal.

Students earn points for fulfilling specific requirements of the Seal, and at least two points must be earned in both Civic Knowledge and Civic Participation. Students in Kayla Corvino’s Participation in Government/Economics class have been working on projects with a community impact in order to acquire the necessary points.

“I picked the blue green algae in Putnam Lake, which is close to my house,” said Lucas Bertone. “I used to go there all the time as a kid, it was so clear and beautiful. Over the years, the toxins from all the runoff and plant matter at the bottom have polluted the lake–animals have died and there’s a bad smell. I hardly go anymore.”

Lucas researched the issue and interviewed people in the community.

“Chemical treatments are problematic–they used to work, but as time went on, the treatments stopped working,” he said. “The new treatments have to be approved by the EPA and there are problems with those as well.”

His proposal to help solve the problem is fundraising for hydro dredging: taking out the plant matter at the bottom which feeds the algae.

“If we could fundraise over time, we could do the hydro dredging in phases–one part of the lake this summer, another part of the lake next summer,” said Lucas.

Did you know that Brewster has a Superfund site? Seniors Sara Maloney and Toni-Ann Munoz researched this issue for their project and believe Brewster residents should know about this site which was polluted in the 1980s by a dry cleaner.

“I had no idea it was even there. It’s so close to where we both live. It’s called the Brewster Well Field–it’s near the East Branch of the Croton River, and there is hazardous material still there–it’s uninhabitable,” Maloney said.

“The EPA oversees it, so we can’t do much about it, but we think people should at least be aware. We plan to bring it to the town board and raise awareness by making posters,” Munoz said.

The issue that Charlotte Smith and Victoria Hegennaour researched was composting at the high school.

“I am going to SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) next year, and when I went to visit, I noticed that there were composting bins next to all of the trash cans in all of the cafeterias. I care about sustainability and thought that would be do-able to research and implement at my school. I think it would make an impact on my community,” said Smith.

“All we would need are the compost bins and signs,” she said. “I think that’s reasonable and would make a big difference.”

This is a press release provided by the organization. It has been lightly edited and is being published by Examiner Media as a public service.