INTERVIEW WITH DAVIDA MORRIS

Greenrock, Bermuda

City where the organisation is based: Hamilton
Number of staff in the organisation/working with Eco-Schools: 2/1

What do you prefer?

Dogs or cats? Cats
Sea or mountains? I live on an island – Sea!
Chocolate or chips? Chips
Film or book? Both
City or countryside? City girl but both have their merits
Favourite word or phrase:

'Awesome!', 'Fabulous!' Or some other one word phrase that shows pleasure.

If you could sing one song in a music competition show on television, what would it be?

Grenade by Bruno Mars

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?

I was hosting a meeting at work for YRE and I was greeting the people who were coming in at the entry. (Our office is on the second floor.) I hadn’t met everyone who was coming to the meeting in person before, we had only interacted through email. So I’m standing by the door waiting and this older gentleman comes in and speaks to me. I said “Good afternoon, Mr Zuill?” and he responds with a good afternoon of his own. We chat about the weather (it was coming down in buckets) and then as we start to walk towards the elevator I say that we are still waiting for Jeremy but I will take him upstairs anyway. To which he responds that there wasn’t to be anyone else at the meeting. I ask if he was here for the Greenrock meeting, he says no, he’s heading to the Centre of Philanthropy which is on the ground floor. I say you’re not Mr Zuill. He says no and gives his name. I explained that I had greeted him as Zuill but he says that he heard me wrong.

Funny thing is I had met the same gentleman before about 8-9 years previously. I think we both forgot about each other. Oops!

A high point of the programme, hopes and visions

I’m new to the position, having only started September 1, 2016 so every target reached is a high point for me.

I love the Eco-Schools programme; its flexibility makes it accessible to so many students. I was approached by a school on an island to help teach a science course using Eco-Schools as a foundation. The students in this course were not performing at the same level as their peers due to learning disorders such as dyslexia. By having the students create a school garden they are able to be more hands-on while learning about plants, farming, water systems and food production in general.

I am really excited about this course because I feel it could open up possibilities for a lot more students. I’ve already had feedback from teachers saying that some students in this present group are completely different now in the classroom because they have had this opportunity. It is very encouraging and I’m hoping to grow it.

Activities by Greenrock

Since I’m still new there’s a lot I haven’t done as yet and there are a lot of things I’d like to do in the future which is exciting and fun. For Earth week I am planning an Eco-Schools Expo in the city of Hamilton. This is an opportunity for all Eco-Schools to showcase what they have been learning not only with other Eco-Schools but with the local community as well. It fulfils step 6 for everyone but it will be such a cool event for the students and the public as well.

An inspiring story by Greenrock

I would say that one of my happiest moments came when one of our Eco-Schools agreed to start a garden at a day facility for adults with learning disabilities. The students dug right into the garden building and even agreed to return to the facility in the near future because they enjoyed the process so much. I was really proud to be a part of such a worthwhile initiative and to be a part of connecting students to a group of people that they might not ordinarily be in contact with.