PROJECTS:

Current & Past

Project List

Recycling

Magnet students began recycling some cardboard and paper after Pratt Recycling started the City of Shreveport's Curbside Recycling. When Mrs. Dionne Procell-Brown came to Magnet in 2013, she applied for and received a very generous recycling grant from our local
International Paper plant in Mansfield. The Magnet Goes Green campaign began when school groups adopted and painted single-stream recycling bins that were placed around campus. Club members are responsible for emptying the recycle bins each week. As of the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, it is estimated that Magnet has diverted over 1.1 tons of trash from the landfill. Despite the hit on recycling industries in recent months and Pratt's inability to offer single-stream services anymore, we're proud to bring paper and cardboard recycling back this school year, thanks to
Renew Waste Solutions. Check out our
recycling video
on the home page to learn about what and how to recycle at Magnet!

Magnet Greens has made some major changes to our beautiful campus in the past few years. In 2017, we started planting a large variety of native and non-native plants in our garden beds. Many plants were donated by the

LSU AgCenter, and many more were carefully selected by the Magnet Landscaping Committee and Magnet Greens sponsor, Dionne Procell-Brown, a LSU AgCenter Community Master Gardener.

Students research several of the plants and make interactive plant labels identifying the plant and any historical, scientific, or otherwise interesting facts about the plant. Plant labels have QR codes that take you to a website encouraging further study. This year we're building a plant inventory that classifies native vs. non-native plants, pollinating plants, etc., and we'll be introducing plants that have unique properties that encourage the Magnet community and our neighborhood friends to make interdisciplinary connections. We're also helping students create a plant map of our school campus and adding numbers to our plant labels.

School Landscaping

Community Cleanups

Over the years, Greens Club has had multiple cleanup events, where we pick up litter around the school and community. Every year we used to participate in the Red River Cleanup, Shreveport's largest trash cleanup day. We've also coordinated several community cleanups over the past years, including a few held on the MLK, Jr. National Day of Service. A few years ago, we picked up and sorted a great deal of trash on our neighborhood Coates Bluff Nature Trail that connects 3 schools and a City of Shreveport SPAR Community Center. Students sorted the plastic and submitted our data as part of
Greenpeace's Plastic Clean-Up and Brand Audit. That was an enlightening and empowering experience for our students and teachers who participated, and an even more impactful way to end a trash cleanup! Every year we clean up the Coates Bluff Nature Trail and improve the health of our Red River Watershed.

Martha Street's "We Grow Together Community Garden" is right across the street from Magnet's campus. In the past we've helped landscape, plant, and clean up the gardens. Some cool things we've done is attend a lesson on composting and help create their key hole garden, which uses compost and "dirty water" to create a more space-efficient garden for a variety of plants, including many vegetables and herbs.

Martha Street Gardening

Mardi Gras Bead Drive

In 2018 Greens Club decided to start a tradition of collecting Mardi Gras beads that students and teachers caught at the parades and giving them back to krewes, so they can reuse them in next year's parades. The initiative was a huge success! In addition, Greens Club sent two of its officers to the Louisiana State Exhibit to give a presentation to elementary school kids on the harmfulness of Mardi Gras beads and ways to make them more eco-friendly. The kids wrote down other types of throws instead of beads they would enjoy. We collect beads throughout the Mardi Gras season and for a couple of weeks after the parades.

Global Goals Week is a highlight of the Caddo Magnet High School year. Each September, our students and staff come together to transform our school with decorations to help spread awareness about sustainability and global awareness. We’ve spread awareness for the global goals through outside events such as Yoga Farm Fest, creating displays featuring the Sustainable Development Goals, and educating others about the goals and how they can help achieve peace and prosperity for the planet. Additionally, our yearly International Peace Day celebrations offer a festive atmosphere filled with multicultural food, engaging photo opportunities, and creative activities that foster unity and peaceful interactions. These events not only celebrate our values but also inspire our community to actively engage in making a positive difference. Two years ago, we installed a Peace Pole next door and taught some of our neighborhood friends about peace day. Students also like making our Peace Beads and making origami cranes.

Global Goals Week

National Wildlife Federation Habitat

Certification

In 2020, Caddo Magnet High School became a National Wildlife Federation schoolyard wildlife habitat. A variety of native plants were introduced for our pollinating pals in our ever-changing school garden beds. Students built a plant inventory and added water sources (butterfly puddling stations made in Magnet's own pottery studio!) in order to achieve the certification and to encourage more area schools and backyards to follow in our footsteps.

Beginning in 2021, Greens Club has been composting the paper collected from classrooms. The paper gets shredded and is then added to the compost bins located at the back of the school along with coffee grounds donated by
Rhino Coffee.Beginning in 2022, Greens Club has been collecting leftover fruits and vegetables from the cafeteria to add to the compost bins.
The goal is to reduce waste created by discarded food.

Composting

Pollinator Pathway

Greens Club has helped expand pollinator-friendly landscaping both on campus and around the Stoner Hill community, specifically around the Valencia Park Community Center. In 2023, we even put Sci-Port's pollinator garden in for them so it stretches further down the road in the Red River Watershed!

The U.S. Department of Education recognized Caddo Magnet High School as a
Green Ribbon School
in May of 2022. Only two other schools in Louisiana have this designation. Nationwide, only 26 other schools were chosen to be awarded with this ribbon.