STRATHAM — Fourth-grade teachers Amy Beauchesne and Caroline Granier challenged their students in December to solve math problems in their everyday lives.

What started as a seemingly abstract idea turned into a greater lesson on environmental sustainability, participation in school decision making and, of course, a few math problems along the way. The end result was several students from both classes requesting the Stratham School Board discontinue buying plastic silverware for the school on May 9.

“We wanted to have the students explore how they could use math to help define and quantify their daily lives,” Granier said. “It was a really organic process, we looked for examples of math all around us here at school and the question was asked, 'How many plastic utensils get used in one day?'”

As a result of months worth of data gathering, Beauchesne's students and Granier's students calculated Stratham Memorial School students and faculty used approximately 350 plastic utensils a day and roughly 57,240 per year.

“It started as a math problem for us. We wanted to know where do all the forks go when we throw them out and what happens as a result?” student Michell Murcin said.

The students decided to take action when they learned how environmentally destructive plastic can be because it is not biodegradable.

“We learned how plastic doesn't decompose and can be bad for the environment because they're dumped in landfills,” student Cael Newkirk said.

Student Chloe Tan pointed out the school continuing to purchase plastic ware also came at an economic cost in addition to the negative environmental impact.

“Switching to metal utensils saves money,” she said. “Plastic utensils can't be reused.”

The School Board agreed with the students and voted during the May 9 meeting to eliminate plastic utensils at the school and also authorized spending $500 to purchase metal silverware.

“It was amazing they voted that night to approve our request, and I was pretty emotional,” Granier said. “I thought they would take a few weeks to discuss it, but they were really persuaded by the kids.”

Beauchesne said prior to receiving approval, the students were each assigned to write a letter requesting support for the classes' request to the principal, assistant principal, cafeteria director or members of the School Board. The classes are now tasked with developing an informational video to be played in school to remind other students not to throw away the new metal utensils.

“Math is all around us and once we did all the calculations, I was proud the students were asking on their own, ‘What do we do now?' And they came up with the idea to get rid of plastic,” Beauchesne said. “Then, we talked about what the process to bring this idea forward and what would happen if the School Board didn't support it at first. It was really about encouraging student voice and student choice.”

Following the School Board's adoption of the fourth-grade classes' proposal, students were thrilled with the positive change they initiated in their school.

“This was a good victory for the whole school,” student Bailey Cooper said. “Hopefully this might inspire other schools to do the same thing.”