Battle Ground Academy News

To Alison Zierden ’26, one piece of trash on the ground matters. She makes it a point to pick up every single piece she sees, whether in public places, on riverbanks, or on the BGA Glen Echo campus.

“If I don’t, who will?” 

It is this question that drives her to volunteer her time and passion toward making earth a clean and sustainable place to live – learning about waste management abroad, organizing a Harpeth River cleanup, and creating impactful eco-art with the trash she gathered from the river. From all her efforts throughout her high school years to take small steps to make big change for the environment, she was awarded the Next Generation Award from the Harpeth Conservancy at its 25th annual River Steward Awards in November. 

The Harpeth Conservancy is a science-based conservation organization in Middle Tennessee whose mission is to restore and protect clean water and healthy ecosystems for rivers in Tennessee. Zierden received her award from Marie Campbell, Community Engagement Director for the Harpeth Conservancy, and Jane Polansky, who worked in conservation efforts for Harpeth Conservancy and the State of Tennessee for years.

“It was very cool to see Marie and Jane and get the award from them. It was a full-circle moment of thinking that maybe one day I could be like them,” Zierden said.

Zierden’s journey in environmentalism began with BGA’s Experiential Education Grant, which is a grant that rising ninth graders can apply for at BGA to be used for independent studies and experiences that include travel abroad. Zierden used hers to visit Costa Rica and Belize, where she learned about sustainability, picked up trash, and built ditches to create waterways for villages.

This past spring, Zierden organized a cleanup of the Harpeth River, where 14 students and three BGA faculty gathered 50 bags of trash, some weighing as much as 25 pounds. From that trash, Shelly the Turtle, an art sculpture made by Zierden, was born.

With help from the Middle School Art Club and some Upper School student leaders, Zierden cleaned and organized the Harpeth River trash and made the framing of Shelly the Turtle. Then, as summer break began, while many students were away from campus on summer break, Zierden visited the Mary Campbell Visual Arts Center at BGA two to three times a week to work on Shelly the Turtle.

“Throughout the summer, I added things to Shelly – hot gluing, wiring, cutting, weaving trash into Shelly's shell. I spray painted some things to make them green, because I wanted Shelly to have a vibrant color. I also worked with BGA faculty and staff, like Ms. Nancy Baker [Sondra Morris and Robert N. Moore, Jr. ‘52 Center for Arts and Entrepreneurship Coordinator & Assistant to the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program], who brought in a bunch of trash for me to use,” Zierden said.

When Shelly the Trash Turtle was completed at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, Zierden entered it into River Swing, an annual art auction hosted by the Harpeth Conservancy. There, her eco-art sparked curiosity in many, including Molly Morrissey, the Senior Community Relations Specialist at Waste Management in Franklin. Morrissey works in the recently opened recycling branch of Waste Management in Franklin, and she thought Shelly the Turtle would look perfect in its lobby. When bid time came, Morrissey won Shelly the Turtle, and the artwork moved to the Franklin Waste Management recycling branch lobby, where it lives today.

Since then, Zierden has continued her hard work by working with BGA faculty to establish a robust recycling program at BGA.

“I did a lot of thinking and spit-balling with Mr. Steve McHugh [Upper School Director of Learning Services,] Dr. Jenn Demers [Director of Upper School STEM Program,] and Ms. Julia Belsante [Director of Early Learning Center] of how do we make the recycling program and sustainability at BGA where it's more than a box to check, but a part of the community and a mandatory part of the curriculum?” Zierden said.

Recently, Zierden, with the help of BGA faculty, wrote a grant proposal to the Tennessee Recycling Coalition. As a result, BGA received $1,500 from the Tennessee Recycling Coalition, which will help the BGA recycling program continue to grow. Zierden has already developed plans to have rolling recycling bins in major areas of the Upper, Middle, and Lower Schools, and she hopes to eventually get some to the Early Learning Center. She is currently working with faculty to implement recycling time into students’ schedules.

“Our plan is to have a rotating schedule in advisory for everyone to pick up individual trash cans in the buildings once a month,” Zierden said.

With her travels, recycling work, impactful eco-art, and organization of a school-wide recycling program, Zierden has accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. Yet, she is insistent that it all unfolded simply because she saw a need and asked the right questions.

“The biggest thing is small actions,” Zierden said.

“It just takes asking a question.”