Mrs. Fields: Purposefully re-purposing

According to Merriam Webster dictionary, recycling is defined as "to make something new from [something else]." To Mrs. Melita Fields, recycling means something much more.  Mrs. Fields has been with Norton City Schools for 20 years and, since 1998, she has been the proctor of the school's computer lab. She is well known among the school for recycling, or, as she calls it, "repurposing" leftover school materials that she feels still has some use. However, Mrs. Fields has been "repurposing" all of her life, from her curtains to her air freshener.

Mrs. Fields uses all kinds of materials to create new things, such as making corn hole bags from old, tattered blue jeans and air fresheners out of soup cans. Other items she recycles include magazines, clothing, catalogs, and newspaper. Her most creative project, she believes, is a wreath made of coat hangers, bows, and flowers. She said that she originally intended the object to be round, but, when it was hung up, the wreath made the shape of a heart. Mrs. Fields says she just comes up with these ideas when the situation arises. She just sees the need (or want) for something, sees some items that could be potentially reused for that purpose, and, using her mind and some work, creates something to fulfill that need (or want). She believes that "Anybody can look at anything and get something different out of it."

Mrs. Fields says that recycling is important for her because it saves money, and she is able to make something new that she needs and wants that she can't find in stores. For the world as a whole, Mrs. Fields believes recycling is good for the environment because it reduces the amount of waste piling up in garbage cans and dumps. Not only that, but she also believes that re-purposing can create wonderful works of art, such as the wreath mentioned above or the CD artwork which currently decorates her computer lab. Her future plans using recycling in the school include: creating a mural of recycled material for the outer computer lab (affectionately called "the morgue" by students because of the lack of windows), creating decorations, and painting a dead fig tree she obtained from a teacher.

If there was one problem in the world Mrs. Fields could fix using recycling, she would choose to feed the hungry and homeless. She stated: "I think that all the [leftover] school lunch, or all [unwanted] food should be given to homeless shelters instead of being thrown away." Her closing thoughts were: "Whether you recycle or not, we are a throwaway generation. There are a lot of things tossed and thrown away that can be recycled."

Written by Cody Messer