Four teenagers from Barrington recently won a prestigious environmental award. 

Abigail Goblick, Siddharth Gupta, Mia He and Emma Pautz received the President’s Environmental Youth Award, which recognizes outstanding environmental stewardship projects by students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The President of the United States joins with EPA to give the award. 

Goblick, Gupta, He and Pautz won the award for their climate action project which is called “The Barrington Environmental Establishment.” Their work with “The BEE” includes the construction of a public composting drop-off site (near the senior center), publishing a bi-weekly newsletter that promotes environmental awareness, and an annual tree sapling sale to off-set the amount of paper used in local schools.

“The BEE and its founders have seen its efforts positively impact their community,” stated a description of the project. “Many people have participated in their events and membership and participation numbers are growing. Their compost collection site produces more than 50 pounds of compost each week on average. Their sapling sales have been a great success. For their efforts, the Rhode Island House of Representatives awarded them a citation commending their actions.”

Goblick, Gupta, He and Pautz will be presented the award during a special event in Washington DC on Aug. 1. 

Community work

As part of the application process, group members offered a description of their community involvement. The local students wrote that they have also partnered with other organizations in town. 

“We hosted volunteering events with the Barrington Farm School where we would gather community members to assist in farm operations. We helped to jump-start the Barrington Land Conservation Trust student stewardship team, hosting an event at our high school to encourage students to join the team. And we hosted beach clean-ups with Save The Bay,” they wrote. 

The Barrington Environmental Establishment is a completely youth-led initiative. 

“Many similar local organizations do not have as much youth engagement, let alone being youth-led. By contrast, at Barrington Environmental Establishment, young people have full autonomy to organize and act. This has been energizing and exciting for the young people involved in our organization,” they wrote. 

“Many youth-led organizations often diminish once the students graduate. However, longevity is central to our organization’s mission. We work to find new younger leaders of BEE who will take over once the current leaders graduate. We are certain that our organization will continue to benefit and educate residents for many years to come.”