Abbey Nilson, an earth science and biology teacher at Shaler Area High School, likes to see students in her sustainability classes involved in the community.

In recent years, they have worked with Millvale and the Allegheny Land Trust to save Girty's Woods and other greenspaces. They raised money selling seed packets for native plants to help sustain the monarch butterfly population.

This year, they teamed with the Etna Community Organization to publish a children's book.

Released in time for Earth Day on April 22, “Love the Earth” contains 60 pages of short stories, poems, activities and artwork contributed by students to promote environmental awareness and stewardship.

The paperback costs $20 and is available through the Etna Community Organization at etna-community-organization.square/site. Proceeds go to the development of the Etna Center for Community and Community Library.

“This is just an amazing project,” said Mary Ellen Rampage, the borough manager and leader of the library capital campaign. “Having our students become a part of our journey is so important to the process.”

The book took three months to complete. The Allegheny Group of the Sierra Club and the Allegheny Land Trust served as sponsors and helped with printing costs.

“This children's book was something I have always wanted to do with students,” said Nilson, noting that the project began in 2020 as part of the University of Pittsburgh College in High School program. “When I learned about Etna's library project, it seemed like a good fit.”

She discussed the idea with Robert and Megan Tunon from the Etna Community Organization. “They 100% supported it and have been such a joy to work with.”

Ms. Tunon, the group’s executive director, said it is inspiring to see young people involved in such a creative way.

“Abbey has cultivated so many unique opportunities for her students to have an impact on the community outside of school,” she said. “The experiences they get in her class are going to serve them for the rest of their lives.”

Her husband, ECO’s board chairman, said the efforts of the students speak to their values and the quality of education they are receiving.

“On one hand, the students created a children's book with a very important message,” he said. “It's also a work of art — full of color, visually compelling and interactive.”

Nilson said the hardest part was uploading the book to the publishing website.

“It would look perfect, but then once we uploaded it, some of the images would show up incorrectly,” she said.

Her favorite part came when the students saw the printed book for the first time.

“It was so exciting to see them look through the book to find the page they created,’ she said.

Emily Jankowski, 16, a junior from Etna, was part of the editing team. She enjoyed reading the stories and the messages they have for younger children, noting that no two pages look the same.

Devyn Campbell, 17, and Alexis Gralewski, 16, juniors from Shaler, wrote poems about saving turtles and growing trees, respectively.

Gralewski said getting the poem to rhyme and be educational was challenging. Both said the skills they learned in advanced placement English courses helped.

Campbell said Nilson, an instructor at Shaler for 15 years, is one of her favorite teachers. “She's hands-on.”

Shaler Area High School principal Timothy Royall said Nilson — a finalist for Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year 2023 — is dynamic.

“I'm continually impressed by our students' desire to better the world around them,” he said.”Their dedication within the class and beyond is inspirational.”

First Published: April 26, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: April 26, 2023, 3:59 p.m.