When Cynthia Westbrook began her career teaching 4th-graders in Room A-6 at American Lakes School, Bill Clinton was president, the World Trade Center stood tall, and Apple had not yet introduced the iPod.
Nearly 16 years later, much has changed — but not Westbrook. She remains in the same classroom, teaching the same grade level, with the same enthusiasm. In fact, she’s American Lakes’ reigning Teacher of the Year.
“I say, ‘Just don’t ever take me out of this room,’” she quips. Because she loves teaching and is so attached to Room A-6, she jokes with kids that when they visit American Lakes many years from now, “I’ll probably be here in a rocking chair.”
Westbrook has created a model Green Team at American Lakes, consisting of more than 50 students committed to recycling and conservation. For several years, the team has recycled tons of paper and cardboard each year from classrooms. Last year, the kids pioneered a cafeteria food waste recycling program. Their efforts can qualify them for prizes and a field trip, but most of all, students participate because they care, she said.
“It’s heartfelt,” Westbrook said of the Green Team’s commitment. “It’s something that makes them feel good when they’re done.”
American Lakes’ Green Team began several years ago after Westbrook displayed photos of the environmental consequences of unrecycled plastics and other products. “What do you want to change?” she recalled asking. “And they decided, ‘Well, we can start with our school.’”
Along the way, Westbrook has talked with the Green Team about problems ranging from landfills that are filling up to commercial products that take many years to decompose.
Can one person make a difference? Absolutely. Westbrook has told students about a 19-year-old man with an innovative proposal to create an anchored network of floating booms and processing platforms to serve as a giant funnel in combination with existing currents to remove plastic waste from oceans. If that doesn’t pan out, she’s confident that today’s youth will invent something that will in years to come.
“They’re going to be the ones who have some genius and actually do something incredible to stop the way we’re headed,” Westbrook said of 21st century students. “They’re going to be the people that change the world and make it a better place.”
Westbrook, who earned a science degree in college, said she was inspired to create an American Lakes Green Team by her own three sons, all adults now, who have a history of being active in and enthusiastic about recycling.
Asked to describe herself, Westbrook said, “I try to be positive as much as possible, I love kids, I’m really a family person, I’m pretty athletic, and I love science.”
What advice would she give to a new teacher? “Kids amaze you every day,” she said. “I get amazed almost every day by something a kid says or does or a struggle they have to get through. So prepare to be amazed.”
