To celebrate Earth Month, environmental science classes hosted an Earth Day Celebration in the cafeteria on Tuesday, April 22.
“I’ve done Earth Day celebrations before at my previous school,” Environmental Science Teacher San-Pei Lee said. “And since I teach environmental science, I’m just very passionate about taking care of the earth and raising awareness about it. We don’t have an environmental club here or anything, so I just wanted to allow my students to kind of share all the knowledge they’ve had, but in an engaging way for the rest of the school to get involved in.”
Students organized activities such as planting a plant, eco-friendship bracelets, origami butterflies, Earth Day pledges, flower crowns, and eco-swap, where students had the option to bring gently used items like stationery or books to swap with others.
“We brainstormed activities we thought would be interesting and then each student signed up for an activity they wanted to be responsible for,” Lee said. “They signed up for their lunchtimes, and then they prepared during class. A few days before, for example, for the origami butterflies, they learned how to make the butterflies and they learned about the information pertaining to the Earth Day pledges so that they could inform others about it.”
The Earth Day Celebration had a large turnout with several students from each lunch stopping by the tables.
“I think [my favorite part was] just getting to see other students get excited about Earth Day and wanting to make a positive difference on the planet,” Lee said.
Senior Breana Gonzalez believes that taking care of the earth is “the least we can do as humans.”
“In Ms. Lee’s class, we learn about how earth is essentially not what it used to be, and I think our actions can not have a great effect, but they can make an effect,” Gonzalez said.
Throughout Earth Week, students were encouraged to participate in environmentally friendly activities, such as abstaining from meat, using reusable water bottles, limiting electricity usage, and spending time outside. The science class with the most submissions for these activities will be rewarded with a sustainable pizza party.
“I did Meatless Monday for breakfast and lunch,” Gonzalez said. “When it was No Plastic Day, I used my Stanley to bring water. And I contributed to the Earth Day activities for all of [Ms. Lee’s] class and the cafeteria.”
Lee hopes to organize more Earth Day Celebrations in the future and get more people involved to escalate the impact of the awareness event.
“I hoped [students] would understand that every person does make a difference and we can choose what kind of difference we want to make,” Lee said. “The earth is our home and we should take good care of it.”
