S2’s from Grange Academy earn their John Muir Award
90 young people from S2 at Grange Academy were presented with a John Muir Award recently for environmental work within their local community.
The John Muir Award is a voluntary programme run by Charlie Adams and Rachel Shankland from the PE Department. The young people took part in litter picking sessions around the school, planted seeds and plants to improve their school environment and supported the local community in Knockentiber towards their aim of having a litter free village.
Councillor Elaine Cowan, Cabinet Spokesperson for Lifelong Learning, Education and Skills and Culture was on hand to present the John Muir Awards, with local member Councillor James Adams. She said: “I was delighted to meet the young people from S2, to thank them for their hard work and present them with their John Muir Award.
“I had thought that maybe 20 or 30 young people would have volunteered their time to support environmental improvements locally, so to say I was surprised and delighted that 90 young people had earned their award is an understatement.
“East Ayrshire Council and the John Muir Trust are in their sixth year of working in partnership; supporting and encouraging outdoor learning and environmental improvement projects across East Ayrshire. Encouraging our children and young people to take pride in their communities and work on environmental projects is an important way of tackling environmental crime, like littering, and the climate crisis.”
The John Muir Award is the main educational initiative of the John Muir Trust, encouraging people to connect with, enjoy, and care for wild places in a spirit of fun, adventure and exploration.
The award was named after 19th century Scots-born naturalist John Muir, who emigrated to the USA, where he became a founding father of the conservation movement and devoted his life to safeguarding the world’s landscapes.