On April 14, students at Pioneer Valley High School spent one of their last lunch periods before a much-anticipated Spring Break celebrating Mother Earth.
Associated Student Body President Brooke Martin and ASB member Kennedy Coleman teamed up with teacher Erika Hirsch to host a rally in honor of Earth Day. The goal: to teach their peers about caring for the Earth through practicing the “Five R’s.” Yes, there are five of them now: reduce, reuse, recycle, renew, and respect.
Those R’s were displayed proudly on a student-designed T-shirt along with a picture of the Earth held in a student’s hand. You can tell it’s a Pioneer Valley student’s hand, because it’s adorned with a bracelet emblazoned with the letters PVHS.
“It represents [how] we have the Earth in our hands, and what we do affects it,” Martin said. “And so we also need to take care of it. … It just represents also that PV does care with the bracelet on the wrist.”
Students enjoyed performances from the Pioneer Valley Jazz Band, Ballet Folklorico, and a solo rendition of John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change” from student Brandon Martinez. ASB members handed out pamphlets with information about conservation.
“The Earth Day event did a fantastic job of bringing the issue of recycling and ‘Earth care’ to the forefront of everyone’s thinking,” principal Dee Ringstead told the Sun in an e-mail. “I think everyone knows about it, but we often need the reminders to make that daily difference.”
Organizers Martin, Coleman, and Hirsch said they hope the students—and other community members—will be inspired to celebrate the planet on Earth Day and all year long.
Managing Editor Amy Asman compiled this week’s Community Corner. Send comments or ideas to the Sun via e-mail at intern@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 21-28, 2011.