On Wednesday, May 10th, students gathered on the Green to celebrate Environmental Day as part of M-A’s Awareness Week. Leadership and AP Environmental Science classes joined together to present an array of student-led science booths that brought awareness to environmental issues such as climate change and pollution.
One project by junior Robbie Kuhnen and senior Drew Nelson had a build-your-own-teabag table featuring locally sourced tea and compostable tea bags. Nelson said, “We wanted to make a project that took a commonly used household item, like tea, and show people how they can reduce their environmental footprint”. The project aimed to show that using compostable products can help reduce waste and pollution.
Another project by juniors Maddie Pham and Taylor Spackman featured an exhibit of modern environmental concerns and ways to address them. If students answered the trivia questions correctly, they would receive candy.
AP Environmental Science teacher Lance Powell said, “This is the first time AP Environmental Science has worked in conjunction with Leadership to host Environmental Day.” Though there had been environmental days before, this is the first time students were able to participate in it as a lunchtime event.
As lunch progressed, students played interactive environmental science games like milk ping-pong and guessing types of trash.
Seniors Nicole Sewald and Jackie Nassiri created their own planting booth. Sewald said, “Our project has students plant native flowers in biodegradable pots.” Students were welcome to create their own flower pots and take them home for planting.
Juniors Abby Ko and Maria Jakovljevic had a similar project where students could take home their own seeds to plant wildflowers. They paired their project with colorful posters featuring information about the flowers.
Jakovljevic said, “I had a fun time building this project and I enjoyed talking to students about the value of planting wildflowers”.
Despite this being one of M-A’s first lunchtime environmental celebrations, it proved to be a success. Students jumped from booth to booth, interacting with all of the student-made creations, they also gained exposure to the importance of climate science. Powell said, “It’s a valuable day because we want to be reminding people of environmental impacts as often as we can.”
