Student of the Month: Senior strives for sustainability

ELKADER - People notice Jacob Jansen, 18, for lots of reasons: he's student body president, has a 4.0 grade-point average, qualified for state in track three years in a row, has given back through Catholic mission trips.

But his most meaningful work has aimed to shrink the mark he leaves behind.

Jacob, The Gazette and KCRG-TV9's Student of the Month for April, has been at the forefront of a project that has diverted about 12 tons of trash from local landfills.

'I've always been interested in sustainability,” Jacob said. After learning about global climate change - from classes at Elkader Central and films - he started noticing the massive amount of food waste his school produced during lunch.

'That's just one school in Northeast Iowa,” he said. 'Think about all the other schools.”

Jacob led a group of students in developing ways to recycle milk jugs and cans and compost the food waste that Central Community District's some 450 students routinely threw in the trash after lunch.

'We've gone from having eight to 12 bags of garbage to having just one,” said science teacher Ann Gritzner, who nominated Jacob for the Student of the Month honor.

The project began last April as part of Gritzner's global science class. Currently in his last semester of high school, Jacob re-enrolled in the course to help improve the program.

'He's got a drive to be excellent,” Gritzner said. 'A lot of kids will do something and it's good enough - rarely is anything ‘good enough' for Jacob. He works very hard to improve upon what he does, and that is so refreshing to see among young people.”

Jacob said he enjoys taking on leadership positions because it allows him to bring other people's strengths together.

'He's a very inclusive person,” said Jacob's mom, Joleen Jansen. 'He's always been sort of sensitive to people who are left out of the circle. As a parent, I find that very rewarding.”

Jacob said he plans on attending Loras College in Dubuque next fall. He'll go tuition-free if he stays on track and is named valedictorian.

He's not sure what he'll study - maybe political science, or biology, or chemistry. Any of those degrees, he said, could lead him back to promoting sustainability.

Whatever he studies, he's sure to pursue it wholeheartedly, his teachers and parents agreed. And while he's off at college, Elkader students who have adopted his green mind-set will keep recycling and composting.

'He has come to the realization that young people can accomplish something,” Gritzner said. 'Adults will listen if you care enough and are compassionate enough.”