Sixty students, representing twenty area schools, gathered in Tarrytown at Hackley School on Sunday for the second annual Student Sustainability Summit.

Co-sponsored by the Chappaqua-based Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation (CELF) and Hackley School, the Summit’s aim was to present a goal-oriented forum led by students that will allow them to problem solve and develop tangible solutions to today’s environmental challenges.

“We see this type of forum as one that will encourage leadership and nurture project planning and management skills," said CELF Program Director Patti Bressman.

Despite being from different schools, many of the students were acquainted with each other thanks to a blog set up by Green Guru Network. Upon registering for the Summit, they selected an area of interest – food and gardens, energy, transportation and sustainable design being some of the choices available – and got to work. Group co-leaders (students), selected in advance, facilitated and inspired the discussions.

The first part of the day consisted of informal discussions, with each interest group breaking out to their own classroom. They discussed some of the work they and their schools have done to reduce their carbon footprint and to exist in a more sustainable manner.

Some students mentioned the difficulty they were having with installing solar panels on their school buildings. Another mentioned that her school enacted a “No Idling” law to reduce emissions and save gas. Anne Gatschet, Hackley Spanish teacher and sustainability coordinator for the upper school, pointed out that Hackley composts all of its food waste.

"A company picks up the waste for free, reducing what we send to a landfill and converting it to a useful product for landscaping and gardening,” she said.

The students then broke for lunch, graciously donated by Whole Foods, and met up with an adult professional from each focus area.

After lunch, the groups reconvened in their classrooms, this time with the professional assigned to their group. Their task: Plan a collective action for their group – something concrete and doable – and lay out a plan of action.

And what did they come up with? Maddy Spencer from Hackley School was a co-leader of the “Zero Impact” focus group.

“My group was originally going with solar panels," she said.  "But the more we discussed it, the more imposing the idea got to be.”

Chloe Arnow from Fox Lane High School, also a co-leader agreed.

“We decided to look at something that was more realistic," Arnow said. "Something we could see happen.”

And what did that group decide on for a collective action? Composting bins!

Marian Ziminsky from Sacred Heart Academy said, “We compost at home, but not at our school. There are compost bins that can double as a flower or edible garden on top so they are esthetically pleasing as well. And the resulting compost could be used around the school or maybe even sold.”

The group set a date for the next action step - investigate product costs and come up with a plan to either buy or build the bins.

And what did the other groups come up with as their collective action?

Everything from short YouTube video about the result of climate change and the animals that will soon be extinct, to gathering information about energy audits for their schools, to using tire pressure gauges to educate people about how routine auto maintenance can effect performance and increase efficiency.

Bressman, in conclusion, declared the Summit a success.

“It was student run and student led,' she said. "We were able to build on a network of environmentally-alert students and broaden their understanding of sustainability concepts. And who would have ever guessed the potential effectiveness of a tire gauge?”

Additional support for the Student Sustainability Summit was supplied by the Green Schools Coalition of Westchester.