Global Student Embassy and Leadership sponsored a week of environmental awareness April 18-22 which included daily themes and activities as well as a week-long used clothing donation drive.

Environmentally friendly habits were emphasized with the hope that the behaviors would become routine for students and staff.

GSE and Leadership laid out goals for each day of Earth Week and publicized them through the bulletin and with flyers posted in classrooms. Students were encouraged to bring reusable water bottles on Monday. Tuesday they were asked to bring lunches in reusable containers such as Tupperware rather than disposable plastic or paper bags. Alternative methods of transportation to and from school were the focus on Wednesday.

On “Thrift Store” Thursday, the leadership class and GSE held a clothing swap to promote sustainable fashion.

“I don’t think we’ve done Earth week to this extent in the past, it’s usually just general,” said Leadership officer Brett Smith. In previous years, the week consisted of spirit themes, but this time GSE attempted to make it more meaningful. The club hops that the collective effort from the entire student body will decrease the school’s waste.

“We, the GSE club and Leadership, are hoping to combine our efforts to be able to produce an awareness of reuse,” said senior ASB president Cam Atwood.

“We’re hoping that people realize that it isn’t drastic changes that they’re going to make to their lives but hopefully they realize that reducing waste goes a long way,” said Smith.

Although GSE Club already uses sustainable practices in the campus garden, with help from Leadership they are attempting to broaden their influence. “We were the voice to let the school now what’s going on, so it’s kind of starting things in the beginning of the week and doing them throughout the school year,” said Atwood. With less than 2 months left in the academic year, they intend to improve the campus’ environment as well as individual students’ habits towards sustainability.