When student council members at the regional high school set out last year to hold their own Green Week, a national initiative to turn students into stewards for the environment, they meant business.

“We actually had kids in the cafeteria standing at the trash cans, and as kids were coming to dump things out, they would say ‘Nope, that doesn’t go here, that goes ever there,’” assistant principal Carlin Hart said this week, recalling the compost and recycling effort set up for the event. “Some of the kids that were working it were reaching down, obviously with gloves on, and separating the trash. It was amazing,” he said.

The amateur eco-police will be back this year to man the trash cans during the Vineyard’s second annual Green Week, next Monday through Friday. “We’re going to have kids at each recycling bin going around and making sure that everyone is recycling everything possible,” said student council president Brianna Davies.

That’s only the first on a long list of eco-friendly activities kids can participate in for the event. Composting and recycling will go on all week, but on Monday the initiative will kick off with a tree-planting ceremony, followed on Tuesday by an effort to clear the student parking lot.

“It’s a carpool day,” said Ms. Davies. Students are encouraged to hitch a ride with a friend, take the bus, ride a bike or find any alternative transportation that will save gas and decrease pollution from individual cars. The student council members will take a tally of the vehicles in the school parking lot on Monday, and measure their success by seeing how many fewer cars are parked there Tuesday. Anyone who finds a different method of transportation to school will be rewarded with a Green Week bumper sticker or reusable water bottle.

For the second year in a row, the Vineyard Energy Project is involved in the education process. Also on Tuesday, they will sponsor green career day, hosting a number of professionals who work in fields that promote environmental sustainability.

The event is like a mini-career fair, Vineyard Energy Project education coordinator Kara Gelinas said this week. “Basically I bring in people from either the community on the Island or off-Island that have different, environmentally-focused careers and they talk to the students about how they got started in their career, what it’s like to work in that field, and what else is available in that field. Just sort of the real story,” she said.

This year, the list includes Bill Potter of Squash Meadow Construction, the only LEED-certified contractor on the Island, the Farm Institute’s education director Sidney Morris, and Valerie Massard, the director of the environmental technologies program at Cape Cod Community College.

While green career day is optional, the entire student body will attend Wednesday’s 45-minute assembly featuring members of the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE). The group travels around the country educating students about the impact of global climate change, and inspires students to take action. According to Ms. Gelinas, ACE offers high schools money to start up action teams for the effort. The small grants help students set up a local chapter of a national group of clubs that work to combat climate change.

Which would be perfect for the Vineyard, said Ms. Gelinas. “There are definitely a bunch of kids at the school that are really into doing energy-related things and environmental work,” she said.

The new event this year will be Thursday’s energy carnival at the Oak Bluffs School. Fifth graders from across the Island will be invited to participate in the cross between a science fair and a carnival, which features games and hands-on activities to teach students about things like wind power, solar power, kinetic and potential energy, and exothermic and endothermic reactions.

“They’re learning how energy works, what the different sources of energy are, and how energy is transferred,” said Ms. Gelinas. “I wanted to do something that was fun, but educational.”

The best part about it, she said, is that students from both the regional high school and the charter school will be the ones manning the booths, giving kids the opportunity to work together among age groups to learn about energy.

On the final day of Green Week, high schoolers will be invited to show off their support for the cause by wearing green. And organizers hope that the enthusiasm the week inspires will stretch on throughout the school year.

“What we’d like to do is not just do it for a week, but for the entire year,” said Mr. Hart. “That’s what we’re moving toward.”