Lanier High School Goes “Green” with Northwest Austin Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Monterrey Obispado.

Thanks to an international partnership between two sister Rotary Clubs, students at Lanier High school in Austin are “going green” by saving energy, conserving water and building a community garden.

The year-long Green Project is the result of an alliance between Northwest Austin Rotary and its sister club Monterrey Obispado Rotary Club in Monterrey, Mexico.  Each club made a contribution as did their respective Rotary districts (5870 and 4130), and the total was matched by the Rotary Foundation.

All totaled, Rotary made available more than $23,000 for the following projects:

·         Installation of special light sensitive switches that automatically turn off when rooms are not in use

·         Creation of a Community Garden in which students and residents in the neighborhood around the high school grow vegetables and share the harvest

The projects will mean more funding for academic programs, since there will be savings on electricity; an increase in community cohesion around the urban gardening project; and a learning opportunity about conservation methods for electricity and water. Lanier Principal Katherine Ryan says “The Green Project at Lanier has definitely changed the way things are done around here.”

A ribbon-cutting ceremony at Lanier High School will be held in the fall of 2013 to commemorate completion of the work.