Editor’s note: The following story was submitted for the Shaler Area Student Section, a collaboration between TribLive and The Oracle, the student newspaper of Shaler Area High School.
The Shaler Area Sustainability Club and classes have been busy with several big goals and projects they have set for the next few years. Here are a few of the projects the students have been working on.
Pine Creek Sustainability Fair
The Shaler Area Sustainability Club has been working on putting together a sustainability fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 21 at Fugh Hall, 27 Crescent St., Etna. The event, also hosted by the Etna Green Corps, will feature about 20 tables showcasing organizations such as the Marine Corps, Reimagined Recycling and the Shaler Sustainability Club. The organizations will share information about how community members can help the environment and create a sustainable lifestyle. The event will be a fun afternoon full of workshops, demonstrations, informational activities and giveaways.
Furniture of the Future
A small group of Sustainability Club students recently presented a project titled “Furniture of the Future” during an event at Penn State. The students partnered with Reimagined Bristol Calling to obtain a sheet of recycled plastic. They then cut the plastic into different shapes and attached them to old lamp stands to make little tables.
The students not only presented this at Penn State’s event, but they also were part of an art show with Pittsburgh Glass Center and currently are involved with a design challenge at The Consortium for Public Education. The students sold three of their upcycled tables at the Pittsburgh Glass Center’s art show and are working on selling the fourth. The students are planning to obtain another sheet of plastic to continue creating and expanding on their project.
Girty’s Woods
In 2021, the Shaler Area Sustainability Club purchased a 155-acre plot of land known as Girty’s Woods. Students currently are working on protecting and inviting a variety of native pollinators onto the land.
The club applied for and received a $5,000 grant from the state in 2025 that has helped students identify and inventory a bunch of different plants found in Girty’s Woods. This has helped the group figure out what species are invasive and are harming the land. The students will be going back to Girty’s Woods this spring to help remove invasive plants and put in new plants that are native to the area.
Some of these plants will be the swamp milkweed, Virginia bluebell and golden ragwort. This will help to protect the current pollinators and invite more good pollinators into the area. The Club is currently working with the Department of Environmental Protection, Allegheny Land Trust and CoNectar Flora-to-Table Education Inc. in Millvale to make this project possible and keep it going.
Recycled benches
The Sustainability Club has continued to help collect bottle caps in efforts to create more bottle-cap benches for the community. Last year, the club collected hundreds of pounds of bottle caps to create two benches for Rainbow Raccoon Park in Millvale. The club currently is cleaning and sorting the remaining bottle caps in preparation for two more benches that will be placed in the area of the Etna Borough Pool.
Succulent sale
On Feb. 12-13, the Sustainability Club sold succulents in the high school library in efforts to collect money for the production of the bottle cap benches. The sale was a great success. The club sold all of the succulents and raised $500 to help continue its projects.
Rainbow Raccoon Park
Sustainability students have been working in partnership with the Millvale Community Development Corporation to continue shaping Rainbow Raccoon Park in Millvale. In 2025, a 12-foot steel raccoon was installed in the park, along with a temporary basketball court and rain gardens.
The club has been working toward adding permanent basketball hoops and painting the court, improving the fencing, planting trees and eventually adding a playground. The group plans to continue applying for grants to keep this project moving toward their goals.