The Harry Hurst Middle School Green Team, led by seventh grade teacher Julie Rexford, has been awarded the Healthy Community Grant from the Keep Louisiana Beautiful organization. Keep Louisiana Beautiful Inc. is the state’s anti-litter and community improvement organization focused on education, enforcement, awareness and cleanups. Affiliated with Keep America Beautiful, the mission is to “promote personal, corporate and community responsibility for a clean and beautiful Louisiana.”
The grant in the amount of $10,000 will allow the team to engage in several projects on campus to help promote green education. The team will be responsible for promoting and collecting the recycling on campus. This includes paper, plastic, aluminum and cardboard. Students have set up a system similar to curbside recycling in which students are assigned zones around campus and pick up the recycling on the assigned days from the classrooms in that zone. 
The Green Team will also start an aeroponic garden using a Tower Garden System. Students will participate in growing produce on campus that will be served within the school cafeteria. This system allows students to participate in every aspect of sustainable gardening. Along with the garden system, students will begin a composting system. The grant allows for the purchase of biodegradable serving trays, eliminating the styrofoam trays currently being used by students. The students will then compost these trays into useable material that can be returned to the earth.