BETHEL — Rosemary Wiser gets up at 6:30 a.m. many days to feed goats Pablo and Picasso, Spotty, the pig, Tinder and Dinah the horses, and the two dozen or so Barred Rock black and white hens. She also feeds several sheep and rabbits.

And beginning this winter, she has started mucking through food scraps of a compost heap next to the barn.

Rosemary, 17, of Bridgton doesn’t live and work on a farm, but instead, she’s a resident senior student at Gould Academy and one of several students who takes part in the private school’s farm and forest, and Gould Goes Green programs.

The newly created compost heap fueled by food scraps from the school’s dining hall, is just one small effort, and the latest by the school to become more environmentally friendly.

In November, the 250-student school installed a wood-pellet boiler to heat the Park-Mason House, a 19th Century campus building that houses the alumni and development offices. That move, said Communications Director Tucker Kimball, is expected to reduce emissions by 34 tons during the first year.

The environmental plan is part of a $36.1 million campaign that aims to make both infrastructure and educational changes to the school that would make it recognized as one of the best private schools in the country. Gould was founded in 1835 as a public educational facility and became a private boarding school in 1969.

About $3.5 million of that financial goal will go to change the way virtually all the buildings on the 200-acre campus is heated. It will change from oil to biomass, Kimball said.

By 2011, the major campus buildings will be heated with wood pellets or wood chips, a measure that will not only virtually eliminate the need for foreign oil, but also reduce carbon emissions by 14,380 tons over a 10-year period, said Zach Lehman, also of the Park-Mason House office.

“We’ll be using local products and save a significant amount of money,” he said.

Within a short time after the major buildings undergo the heating change, the 15 staff homes are also expected to be outfitted with wood pellet furnaces, new windows, insulation and more efficient electrical and plumbing systems.

Other environmental upgrades include a major renovation of Hanscom Hall, c. 1933, which is one of two classroom buildings on campus, that will include new windows, heating and plumbing and a complete interior renovation at a cost of about $6.4 million, construction of a new dormitory that will meet national standards for energy efficiency, installation of motion-sensor lighting in several buildings, and other changes that will lead to a smaller carbon footprint.

For Wiser, working with the animals is something she really enjoys. She also is a recycling advocate, both at home and at school where each room has a recycling bin. One of the duties of students is to empty them each weekend.

“As a center of learning, we have a responsibility to be more energy-efficient and self-sustainable,” Kimball said.

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Gould Academy student Rosemary Wiser stirs up food scraps in the school’s new compost heap. The finished compost will be used on a vegetable garden, and other greenery around the private school’s campus. The creation of the compost heap is one of many “green” steps the school has taken and will take over the next couple of years to significantly reduce its carbon emissions.

Tinder and Dinah, daughter and mother horses at the Gould Academy farm in Bethel, are two the school’s four dozen animals. They are owned by the girls’ dormitory and Farm Manager Tracey Wilkerson.