Sustainability lessons and environmental activities cultivated an appreciation for nature on King Street April 19. Students and educators from all divisions at Sacred Heart Greenwich hosted 33 activities for the community to interact with the Earth and learn more about issues of sustainability. The festivities highlighted the importance of protecting the Earth and celebrating natural beauty.
Sacred Heart first honored Earth Day as an all-school celebration in 2022. Each year, the Sustainability Club plans events such as morning meeting presentations, a stewardship chapel, and interactive workshops that students, faculty, and staff collaborate to manage. While these activities all focus on themes of conservation, education, and natural appreciation, this year’s workshops included planting trees, watching birds, creating pottery, flying handmade kites, writing nature-inspired poetry, and more.
Ms. Ellyn Stewart, Director of Media Studies and Design and Innovation, serves as a Faculty Adviser for the Sustainability Club. She commented on the significance of celebrating Earth Day each year and how the community can show appreciation for the planet.
“Earth Month is an important time for our students, faculty, and staff to reflect on the beautiful earth that God has created,” Ms. Stewart said. “We are especially blessed to have 110 acres here at 1177 King Street. I hope that Earth Month provides our community members with inspiring and tangible takeaways about how each one of us can be stewards of our planet.”
In addition to last Friday’s Earth Day workshops, Sacred Heart will collaborate with other Sacred Heart Network schools to host a Network Sustainability Summit April 23, aiming to find more sustainable solutions to environmental issues concerning the schools. Student and faculty representatives from 91st Street in New York City and Stuart Country Day School in New Jersey will visit the King Street community for the day. These three schools will meet virtually with representatives from other Network Schools to plan a collective “Goal Three, Criterion Four Project.” Using the Sacred Heart Goals and Criteria as a framework, the plan is to brainstorm and commit to environmental projects on a national level across the Sacred Heart Network.
The April 19 all-school Earth Day celebration was an opportunity for Upper School students to share their interests and passions for sustainability and environmental action through student-led workshops. Sophomore Annie Slocum ran a station called Where Love Grows in the new herb garden. Participants decorated cups and planted seeds. She shared what inspired her to run this workshop and her hopes for the activity.
“The newly founded Gardening Program decided to run this workshop to help promote our love of gardening and planting to members of all ages in our school community,” Annie said. “Specifically, we want to highlight the new herb garden that we created by the athletic center, where we are hoping to collaborate with the Lower and Middle Schools in the future.”
Annie hopes that students use the Earth Day activities to connect with the outdoors while trying something new. She described the call to action that members of the Sacred Heart community have to protect the earth.
“From creating bee hotels to planting herbs, all students [were able] to try something new and engage with the beautiful outdoors,” Annie said. “Goal Three, Criterion Four states, ‘All members of the school community accept accountability for the care of God’s creation, practice effective stewardship of the earth’s resources and work to alleviate the climate crisis.’ By holding these interactive activities and working with different ages of the school community, it is hoped that these activities will inspire students to take part in this goal and fulfill our mission as children of the Sacred Heart.”
Featured Image by Avery Quake ’26
