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At Cannon School, we believe sustainable solutions inherently express our core values: courage, teamwork, respect, integrity, passion, and kindness. Students, faculty, and staff work as a team in various "green" programs around the campus and community not only for their own sake, but also for the character-building lessons environmental stewardship teaches all of us.
Cannon has a dedicated Sustainability Committee comprised of members from the faculty and staff across divisions and disciplines as well as US students. The committee's mission is to improve sustainability on campus and to educate our school community about environmental issues.
Some of our sustainable initiatives include:
- Cannon is certified as a Schoolyard Habitat® by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). This program uses school grounds as educational sites for wildlife conservation and cross-curricular learning. Bird houses in the natural areas enhance wildlife on campus. Cannon also has outdoor classroom space and access to the Coddle Creek natural area for science classes, after-school enrichment classes, and camps.
- Our school-wide mixed recycling program drastically reduces the amount of trash sent to county landfills. In addition to bins collecting paper, plastics, glass, and cardboard, we also recycle batteries and ink cartridges.
- In the school cafeteria, all waste is sorted by: compostable, recyclable, and landfill. The school uses compostable plates, bowls, and utensils to further reduce the waste that ends up in local landfills.
- Water fountains throughout the school are equipped with bottle refilling spigots, allowing students to bring and refill water bottles reducing overall plastic bottle usage.
- The Lower School and Middle School run a joint "Trout in the Classroom" project. The school is given approximately 300 eggs in September with the goal of raising as many trout as possible for a release at Stone Mountain State Park in May. The tank is located in the Lower School playground lobby, so students can observe the fish growing during the year.
- Our Upper School AP Environmental students are leaders of sustainability on campus. They collect recycling in the Upper School, and help maintain our natural areas and birdhouses.
- Cannon School has officially adopted Coddle Creek from the I-85 interstate bridges to the Poplar Tent bridge adjacent to Dorton Park, and continuing on downstream to the Weddington Road Bridge adjacent to Cannon’s sixty-five acre campus. The school conducts two cleanups each year in which student volunteers walk the entire adopted length, picking up litter, old tires, and car parts. The "Stream Watch" program is sponsored through the State of North Carolina.
The Sustainability Committee and members of the Cannon community are always looking for more ways to reduce our environmental footprint. We believe that environmental stewardship is another lesson in integrity, respect, courage, passion, teamwork, and kindness.
Cannon School
Phone: 704-786-8171 | Fax: 704-788-7779
