Environmental Club recycles their passion for the environment
Barat Center students listen to and engage with the members of the Upper School Environmental Club April 8. Morgan Johnson ’17
The members of Convent of the Sacred Heart’s Environmental Club are sharing their passion for recycling and instilling similar values in the youngest members of the community. The students visited the Barat House April 8 to teach preschoolers and pre-kindergarteners the basics of recycling.
Junior Christina Weiler founded the Environmental Club as a new student at Sacred Heart in September. Her goal was to raise awareness in the Sacred Heart community about the importance of recycling and what impact it has on the environment. The club’s outing to the Barat Center is one way the club is reaching Christina’s goal.
“The Environmental Club is excited to start making a direct change in the community by informing its youngest members,” Christina said. “We are ready to jump start environmental awareness in every way we can, and I believe this project will bring a lot of enthusiasm to the subject.”
Morgan Johnson ’17
Members of the Environmental Club who attended the event included juniors Christina Weiler, Mackenzie Jordan, Mary Livingston, Sophia Mortell, Katherine Sepulveda, Julia Pogge, and Morgan Johnson.
When they arrived, the club members greeted the students and assessed their basic understanding of recycling through a brief introduction period. They used the interactive approach of asking them questions to get them involved in the learning process.
After, the Barat Center students watched a “Peppa Pig” episode about the practice of placing recyclable items into their respective bins. The students reacted to this in an enthusiastic manner and enjoyed incorporating a video into their lesson.
The Environmental Club members then showed the students a variety of recyclable and non-recyclable products and observed if they could understand the difference. This way, the materials became recognizable and familiar to each student.
“Our goal is to provide the students with fun ways to help the environment because in order to make a change, people need to be motivated and informed,” Christina said.
To show the similarity between recycled and new paper, the club asked the students to differentiate between the two. This question helped enforce that recycled products and new products are virtually indistinguishable.
To conclude the lesson on recycling, the Barat Center students created recyclable art by using the paper to draw. The Environmental Club also encouraged the students to apply what they learned to their home and classroom routines.
The Environmental Club will host an additional recycling lesson Tuesday, April 12 for the pre-schoolers who could not attend due to scheduling conflicts.
Christina and the other members of the club plan to return to the Barat Center before the end of the school year to give a follow-up lesson. In addition, the Environmental Club plans to host a battery drive next year.
Karl Haeseler • Apr 11, 2016 at 1:42 pm
Hello Morgan,
I enjoyed reading about the important work The Environmental Club students are doing. Environmental awareness and respect for earth’s resources are values that really need to be taught early on and the occasional reminder helps as well! Nice job!
Mr. Haeseler