ForGreenerEarth clubs expand to more than two dozen metro schools
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Francis Tuttle student Ayla Relland accepts the second place award for Community Awareness Project with her Business Marketing and Management instructor Natalie Jordan at the 2024 DECA International Career Development Conference in Anaheim, Calif.
Edmond senior high school student won second place at the DECA International Career Development Conference for her ForGreenerEarth environmental club initiative.
Edmond Santa Fe High School senior Ayla Relland, who is in the Business Marketing and Management program at Francis Tuttle Technology Center, founded ForGreenerEarth earlier this school year. It started as a class project but has now expanded into 27 schools across four school districts in the Oklahoma City metro.
Relland’s project placed in the Community Awareness Project category. It’s the first time in at least 15 years since an Oklahoman has placed at the ICDC, according to the Oklahoma DECA chapter.
Relland traveled to Anaheim, California, for the conference, where she accepted the award.
ForGreenerEarth is an organization that helps schools form their own environmental clubs by connecting them to resources and information. It now hosts clubs at high schools and elementary schools in Edmond, Deer Creek, Putnam City, and Oklahoma City Public School districts.
Clubs receive starter kits with a suggested schedule, as well as activity and event instructions. They host their own fundraising events and use ForGreenerEarth to network with other clubs and share ideas.
“If not me, then who? The most important time to do something is now,” Relland said. “I feel like it’s really important to make a change and make a difference.”
Through these clubs, schools have already started recycling programs, grown school gardens, and shared valuable knowledge with students about their environment and sustainability. Relland credits her Francis Tuttle program for giving her the skills to launch ForGreenerEarth.
“A lot of the skills I needed to be able to start something like this, I learned from this class,” she said. “I also have a supportive teacher, [Natalie Jordan], who has helped me along the way. She is individualized with each student and will come check on me, see how it’s going and ask how she can help.”