Written by Katherine Wang (Class of 2024), Kaitlin Harness, and Rachel Blythe (Class of 2022)
Photos by Rachel Blythe (Class of 2022)

On Wednesday, March 9th, the Girls’ School’s Student Environmental Action Committee (S.E.A.C.) hosted a belated celebration of World Wildlife Day. In 2013, March 3rd was proclaimed World Wildlife Day by the United Nations General Assembly to celebrate and raise awareness about wild animals and plants. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration.” According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, “more than 40,000 species are threatened with extinction.” Many of these species are not only facing a decline in their populations but also a deterioration of their quality of habitat. This continued loss of species, habitats, and ecosystems can cause potential harm to all life on Earth. Thus, IGDVS came together to celebrate World Wildlife Day to be more informed about the current threat many species are facing, and to find ways to preserve the ecosystem around us.

The high school and elementary school girls gathered together for lunch, munching on animal crackers under colorful decorations prepared by the S.E.A.C. members. After finishing up their meals, students were prompted to write down pledges on paper leaves detailing how they wanted to support the restoration or protection of habitats and appreciate the diversity of this earth’s wildlife. These pledges were later attached to a beautiful tree mural outside the school for all to see. Pledges made, students played charades together, impersonating animals for others to guess. They explored endangered animals as well as fauna native to Northern California. The younger students joined Ms. Kravitz, the adviser of the S.E.A.C. team, in playing an animal guessing game. Afterwards, students took photos, played with bunnies belonging to a member of the junior class, and used sidewalk chalk to decorate the road with their favorite animals, ending the event with lots of laughs and dusty fingers. While World Wildlife Day is past, the S.E.A.C. team would like to encourage everyone to be aware of how their actions impact species of flora and fauna and raise awareness about preserving the beautiful ecosystem around us.

If you would like to contribute towards the protection of our world’s wildlife, please check out these organizations!
California Wildlife Center: https://cawildlife.org/
Wildlife Conservation Network: https://wildnet.org/