by Kate Rohr

Preserving and protecting the environment has been one of the biggest issues on international, local, political and personal levels in the last ten years. But does STA reflect that growing concern? In other words, just how ‘green’ is STA?

According to STA president Nan Bone, protecting the environment is key part of the Sisters of St. Joseph’s mission.

“[The Sisters of St. Joseph] were some of the first environmentalists of Kansas City,” Bone said. “If we talk about their four carisms, what their belief statement is, they are that we should be in right relationships with each other, right relationships with the dear neighbor, right relationship with God and we should be in right relationship with the environment.”

Bone acknowledges that STA should strive to follow the sisters’ belief and mission, but that it is a process to reach higher environmental goals.

“If we have an awareness of what we’re doing, that’s the first step,” Bone said. “Awareness of knowledge of that is part of our mission and vision. And then the second step is doing it.”

Bone uses the geothermal wells constructed for the Windmoor Center and Chapel of St. Joseph as an example of how STA is environmentally friendly.

According to Bone, instead of installing air conditioning units like in most buildings in Kansas City, they chose the geothermal wells because they “wanted to stay true to the vision and mission of the sisters by right relationships with the environment.”

While the geothermal wells initially cost more than typical air conditioning, in ten years they will pay back almost 50 percent because of the money saved on utilities in the chapel, according to Bone.

The administration is not the only advocate of environmental awareness at STA, however. One of Students Assembled for Global Awareness’s main goals this school year will be to raise awareness for environmental issues, according to senior Kelsey Ceriotti, a SAGA member.

“The main plan is to get more people aware about recycling and make more recycling opportunities in the school,” Ceriotti said.

SAGA members place posters with facts about environmental issues and recycling in halls and bathrooms throughout the school. SAGA and the Science Club also place containers specifically meant for plastic water bottles on every floor.

“I think St. Teresa’s is very green considering we have recycling bins in each of the classrooms as well as in the hallways,” Ceriotti said. “Each time [students] walk in the hallways, if they want to recycle, there’s an opportunity for them to do that.”

Science Club moderator Terry Conner believes there are other steps students can take when recycling at STA that would make it more effective.

“When I have lunch duty, I see people throwing away their lunch trash, regardless of what they’ve got,” Conner said. “They put everything in the trash can, and it could be separated. It takes time and awareness and conscious thought about it.”

According to Conner, other area schools “have very minimal trash,” and believes that STA “could do better.”

“We should have minimal trash and maximum recycling,” Conner said. “We only have one planet and we have to take good care of it.”

Technology department head Renee Blake believes that the netbooks have been environmentally friendly for STA students.

“[They have] conserved paper, because students and a lot more teachers are submitting assignments online,” Blake said. “We’re always going to have printing, but it’s not as much as before.”

Blake believes the limit on the number of pages students can print has helped reduced the number of pages printed at STA.

“I think students are more conscious of what they’re sending to the printer, they’re not just hitting the print pages,” Blake said. “Especially on websites, I think they’re getting more selective on what they need to print.”

Ceriotti and Bone both believe that recycling is an important way for STA students, faculty and staff to protect the environment.

“I think that recycling at St. Teresa’s is really important because we need to do it at our school, but we also need to do it at our homes,” Ceriotti said. “If people incorporate it more at school they’ll incorporate it more in their home life. It would make a bigger green area.”

Bone already sees affects of STA’s recycling outside of the school environment.

“In the last year, we have added recycling containers, next and close to our trash containers over on Westover,” Bone said. “It’s amazing to see how many community members use our recycling. They recycle newspapers, paper and cardboard. My daughter lives in Prairie Village and she comes here and recycles.”

According to Conner, STA provides recycling containers for plastic cans, corrugated cardboard, aluminum and steel cans on Westover Street.

Bone also acknowledges that there are changes that could be made around campus to improve, including opportunities to recycle glass and evaluating the number of sheets of paper students should be able to print at school.

“I think we can all be better at recycling,” Bone said. “We could make a list of things we could be better at. I hope what we’ve done a good job about is helping our students understand that and if they go out into the world they continue that sense of responsibility toward the environment.”