By Leanna Duong (Class of 2018)

The importance of maintaining a healthy environment is harder than ever with the creation of e-waste, non-recyclable materials, but as of last year, Developing Virtue Girls School has been actively trying to promote Earth Day, a day dedicated to celebrating and cherishing our planet. In 2016, the school hosted a picnic and fundraiser for the Canopy Tree Project, where every dollar plants one tree. As a result of last year’s success–which turned out to be more successful than we imagined, raising enough money to plant over 100 trees–this year, we planned for Earth Day to be even bigger and better.

Starting in March of 2017, the Green Team hosted school events that led up to Earth Day on April 22, that worked on spreading awareness through art. It took a school-wide effort to create two pieces of mesmerising visuals that garnish our staircase and hang on our wall. For the first piece, every student in Developing Virtue Girls School personalized their own handprint with a pledge to better the Earth. Using visible and tangible pieces of art, we hope that when students pass by the halls, this chain of handprints will remind them of the promise they have made and consciously take action to improve their habits. As for the second piece, the students worked with their classmates, as an opportunity to learn cooperation, to make a Rainbow Pyramid mural that hangs on one of the walls of our school. We hope that he finished products would remind us of the pledges we have made and our environmental responsibilities to our planet.

Finally, on the big day we have all been waiting for, we celebrated with a picnic lunch, games, a highly competitive taco-making competition and had nothing short of a good time. In the spirit of nature, we spent lunch under the Spring sunshine and played on the grass, reminding us of the beauty of the Earth while chomping on freshly made tacos. We played Earth Day Charades where we witnessed the rare and spectacular sight of the Senior class struggling to depict “Johnny Appleseed riding on an elephant” and took part in a game the Juniors invented called  “Trees versus Tree Germs.” Trust me, it was more fun than it sounds.

Even though we had lots of fun, speaking as a member of the Green Team, I hope what students take away from Earth Day is not just a day of “fun in the sun”, but a newfound love for the environment and motivation to spread awareness. It is our hope that young people will actively make decisions that will benefit the Earth rather than harm it. We can celebrate Earth Day every year, but devoting one day a year to the conservation of the Earth while the other 364 are spent polluting it would make no progress. Only when we foster eco-friendly habits can we ever heal the ecological damage we have created.