The student news site of St. Teresa's Academy

DartNewsOnline

Breaking News
The student news site of St. Teresa's Academy

DartNewsOnline

The student news site of St. Teresa's Academy

DartNewsOnline

Dart News

STA goes green to protect our future

Reduce, reuse, recycle. We’ve all heard it before. We’ve seen it on the countless SAGA posters taped to the hallway walls, heard it on the announcements during Global Awareness Week and listened as the construction workers drilled geothermal wells for the Windmoor Center. We get that it’s something important, and probably something we should exercise ourselves. But why?

While adding the Windmoor Center and the new track and field to our campus, administration has made a conscious effort to go green. Now STA isn’t just doing this to get their name in a magazine or to save a few dollars on an electric bill. And the new high-tech equipment isn’t just for show.

Rather, STA has its eyes set on the future. Administration isn’t spending so much money on the track surface just because it looks good, but because it lasts longer. STA isn’t spending nearly a year working on the Chapel of St. Joseph just to install the prettiest bricks; STA’s making the building strong enough to last the next 200 years.

Sixty years from now, as we all begin to send our own granddaughters to STA, they will still be using these new amenities because STA had invested in its future way back in 2012. Go ahead and complain during your literature test about the sound the machines are making as they drill geothermal wells into the quad. But your granddaughter will sure be thankful STA went to this extent to preserve the chapel when it becomes the new favorite building on campus. And sure, it may be annoying that one of your teachers puts their notes online rather than in handouts. But 50 years from now when the world decides to stop making paper, STA students will have an advantage over all the schools around us who aren’t as technologically advanced.

Yes, we should all be more than thankful that the administration here has made several efforts for the school to “go green.” But it can’t stop there though. Our student body has way more potential to make a difference than administration single-handedly leading a revolution. As students, it is equally our responsibility to participate in this whole movement. It may not seem like a lot when you recycle that one Spanish handout, but imagine if all 562 of us recycled one piece of paper for every 169 days of school. That’s 94,978 pieces of paper, which is the equivalent of 11.5 trees, according to conservatree.org. Just because the girl sitting next to you in class isn’t recycling doesn’t mean you shouldn’t; it means you should tell her to yourself. A little effort on everyone’s part makes a huge difference.

This “green” movement must be student-supported. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t an ecofriendly person or not. You don’t have to go buy a hybrid car or supply your house with electricity from solar panels. Just support STA’s goal. Acknowledge the hard work the administration has put into the new renovations on campus. Make little adjustments in your daily life—like using a lunch box instead of a brown bag—and you’ll make your own contribution. If all 562 of us do something small, it becomes something extremely big. You aren’t compelled to do this because you’re living on this world and you need to prevent global warming. You’re compelled to do this because you’re a girl from the Academy and you need to protect our school.

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

Please review the Dart's editorial policy before commenting. Please use your first and last name; anonymous comments will not be published.
All DartNewsOnline Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *