Greening
our schools
Archdiocese
takes initiative in environmental awareness
By NADIA MARIA SMITH
CS&T Staff Writer
Catholic schools celebrated Earth Day on April 22 this year in a big way
- by participating in the Archdiocese’s Protecting the Planet Science
Initiative.
Throughout the school year, teachers and students developed environmentally
friendly projects, which taught the students about environmental concerns
and showed them what they can do to help.
The science initiative, which acknowledged every participant, was initiated
by the archdiocesan Science Curriculum Committee to help the students
see the relevance of science in their everyday lives and to instill in
them a realization of their own responsibility to protect the planet,
said Sister Esther Hart, I.H.M., who coordinated the project.
The initiative was a response to a request by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph
McFadden to emphasize science in the elementary schools. Bishop McFadden
oversees the Secretariat for Catholic Education.
“Our Catholic schools have always had wonderful science fairs,”
Bishop McFadden said. “I think it is a wonderful opportunity for
us to exhibit the quality of instruction being given to our young people
in our schools, and manifest to the community that our quality schools
are preparing students for the future in all fields, especially in the
science fields.”
Bishop McFadden said the theme of the initiative underscored the importance
“for our young people to see there is another dimension to protecting
our environment, and that is that we are beneficiaries of God’s
creation, and it’s our responsibility to take care of it.”
With that purpose in mind, some schools, such as Our Lady of Mount Carmel
in Doylestown, Holy Savior in Linwood, St. Anastasia in Newtown Square
and Resurrection of Our Lord in Philadelphia, tackled the issue of waste
by implementing recycling programs in their schools.
At Our Lady of Mount Carmel, fifth-graders serve as “recycling rangers”
responsible for collecting the paper waste and placing it in appropriate
bins once a week.
That school, along with Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Southampton,
participated in the Neshaminy Mall Recycling Trash Art Contest, in which
90 percent or more of the artwork was composed of recycled “trash”
materials. St. Michael the Archangel School in Levittown also held its
own recycled art project.
Other schools, including St. Luke the Evangelist in Glenside, St. Eleanor
in Collegeville, St. Francis de Sales in Lenni, and Mother of Divine Providence
in King of Prussia, had their students look at various environmental issues
such as energy efficiency, water pollution, greenhouse waste and habitat
destruction for individual science projects.
“It would be a disservice to our children not to teach them about
these issues,” Sister Esther said. “It is … something
that is directly affecting them.”
Sister Esther said she was pleased that so many schools participated,
and that she hopes more schools will join the initiative next year.
“Much of science is discovering what God has already placed in His
creation,” Bishop McFadden said. “The more we probe and study
and see how the earth works and the magnificence of God’s creation,
the more we grow in appreciation for the God that created us and called
us into life.”
CS&T staff writer Nadia Maria Smith may be reached at npozo@adphila.org
or (215) 965-4614.
For
more information. see the May 1, 2008 issue of the Catholic Standard
& Times