The CollectiveGood Foundation awards Ms. Linda Hudson the Pioneer in Effective Curriculum Award, earned for excellence in middle school curriculum development.

Ms. Hudson and her students help the Las Vegas community preserve the quality of the local environment. Ms. Hudson’s students collect and recycle handheld electronics to keep them out of landfill and thus prevent the release of toxics into ground-water. Over 4 years, Ms. Hudson perfected this middle school curriculum unit that blends student community service, academic advancement and team actions to promote environmental quality. All student activities are relevant to the Nevada state standards of learning.

Linda Hudson says; “Each year the children take to the project very quickly. One of my 5th graders said it best; “It’s a win-win all around. We protect the earth; we help kids get scholarships for great education; we help the animals and we help make jobs for adults with special needs”, a reference to some of the workers in the recycling factory who are in a workplace readiness program”.

Hudson tallies the results so far; “Over a 4 year span, 135 fifth graders recycled 7,887 cell phones resulting in more than $32,227 to help children and animals of Nevada while saving 3½ tons of toxic waste from polluting our environment.”

Cynthia Daley, of the CollectiveGood Foundation, says of Ms. Hudson’s accomplishment, “Ms. Hudson’s students have scored a ‘home-run of recycling’- wide participation in a financially sustainable, environmentally smart program. Even better, Ms. Hudson documented how to repeat the success in other middle school classes. A great teacher can help change many communities.”

Linda Hudson says her fifth grade students get better results each year. Each year, students stepped up to the challenge eagerly as they wrote letters, applied mathematics and logistics within the project, and understood science in a context of landfill, groundwater, and recycling electronics. Ms. Hudson has agreed to make the middle-school recycling curriculum available to other teachers upon request through the CollectiveGood Foundation - email requests to: hudsoncurriculum@verizon.net

The CollectiveGood Foundation is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit that recognizes and supports the efforts of people who take action to improve the quality of health, education, and environment in their communities. Cynthia Daley can be reached at (703) 281-2862.