Science teacher Ellen Kruger pushes green initiatives in our community.
Mrs. Kruger leads the eco club, as well as the green task force, a group that includes faculty and staff from all over our community. This task force has played a crucial role in some recent changes in waste management, such as getting rid of single use, plastic water bottles in the cafeteria. Despite her efforts to get adults on campus involved, Mrs. Kruger believes that keeping the SCH community clean is a job that should be spearheaded by the student body. In her own words, “One of our main goals is to support students in their initiatives, because I think that one thing we found is that sustainability efforts at SCH are much more successful if they’re student driven.” As of now, there are multiple CEL projects that are sustainability related, as well as eco club and service council, which are also mostly student led. For her CEL venture accelerator project, junior Mackenzie Hines is taking a deep dive into reducing and refining food waste on campus, and was even named a ‘Young Ambassador’ by PENNDOT for her efforts to keep the community clean. If you’re an upper-school student looking to get involved with a sustainability project or green initiative, Mrs. Kruger is a great person to contact to get started.
Service Council Promotes Recycling
Every Thursday, co-head of Service Council Ryan McManus and a crew of service council members roll three recycling bins around, one for each floor of the inn, and collect the recycling from every classroom. “When I was in middle school some of the different service programs were making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, collecting recycling in the middle school building (the inn at that time), and going off campus for Chestnut Hill community projects,” said Ryan. “I always remember collecting recycling in the middle school as a fun way to give back to the quiet, sometimes unnoticed maintenance crew that makes our campus look so great and clean.” Recycling is a great way to reduce waste sent to landfills, conserve natural resources, and prevent pollution, so the recycling crew would like to give any potential recyclers a quick message: “Everyone loves Starbucks and Dunkin, but if you are not going to finish your morning coffee, please do not throw out a half-full coffee cup. It ruins the entire recycling can and we can not recycle that bag anymore.”
Eco club strives to raise awareness
The upper school eco club has big plans for the year. Coheaded by juniors Caitlin Keough and Sage Palmer, eco club strives to raise awareness about environmental issues and educate people on what they can do to be more environmentally friendly. Some things to expect throughout the year are possible clothing swaps, the rebuilding of lower school composting gardens, and an awesome earth day celebration. On earth day, the club plans to plant trees with lower school students, pick up trash, and maybe make it a lights-out/powerless day. “I hope we can help others see how extraordinary the earth is; everything it does, the life it gives, and it’s simple and serene beauty,” commented Keough. “If we, as a community, can find that connection with the earth, we can see why it is so important to protect it and gain the motivation it will take to heal the massive wrong we have done to it.” If you’re someone looking to educate yourself and take action on harm being done to the environment, while also promoting fun and interactive ways for people to live a greener lifestyle, SCH’s Eco club is the right place to go.
