Alexander Englert, of Centennial, has been elected to the Iota Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Society at Gettysburg College. Englert is a member of the class of 2009.

Lowry Elementary School, in Denver, and Peakview Elementary School, in Centennial, will receive GreenWorks! grants to undertake service-learning projects focusing on the environment.

The grants are awarded by Project Learning Tree, the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation, and Esurance, the direct to customer auto insurance company.

“These grants help support Colorado students committed to working with their community to improve their neighborhood,” said Shawna Crocker, Colorado coordinator for Project Learning Tree. “This is the first time that Esurance has funded GreenWorks! projects in Denver, and we are very excited by their support of worthwhile projects that may not have been able to go forward otherwise.”

Begun in 1992, GreenWorks! grants give youth a chance to apply classroom learning to community projects in conjunction with environmental education training and materials that Project Learning Tree provides to teachers through professional development workshops.

Esurance has partnered with Project Learning Tree since 2007 to bring these grants to schools in communities near their local offices.

The project will be completed within the next year.

Peakview Elementary School’s projects include a rock hopper garden and nature discovery stations.

Fifth-graders will apply their math skills when they design an arrangement of rocks for a dry riverbed and three clusters of boulders. The rocks will serve as natural benches and stepping stones adjacent to their playground, and alleviate damage caused by heavy foot traffic to a group of trees.

Other classes will help create nature discovery stations such as butterfly, mason bee, and bat houses, a sundial, and an animal tracks panel. They will do research and design educational signs to describe the animals’ natural habitats and needs, and to explain how a sundial works.

“By giving students and teachers more structured opportunities to use the school grounds for teaching and discovery, they will become more comfortable outdoors, and gain respect and wonder for our natural world,” said science teacher Laura Arndt.