Those students who have a passion for science and earnestly want to repair our environment gathered together to provide a personal impact on our surroundings. On Friday October 27, 2023 Mr. Roberts held a trash clean up and tie dye for his two Capstone classes. The students in the two capstone classes got to get out of their last two classes of that day to spend time picking up trash around the school.
Gathered into groups, the students cleaned up trash that was littering the school grounds and lessening the negative impact on not only nature but also the overall aesthetic of the school itself. This activity showed that a few people can positively affect the world around them.
Mr. Roberts also assigned some groups to a tie dye station. “The tie dying allowed me to work with people from the other capstone class and got to experience a fun activity that we don’t normally do at school and it was really fun for me,” said Rae Lyons as she explained how this event went for her. The tie dye station is to make shirts for students to wear on all the field trips that the capstone classes get to go on. This year, a larger number of students decided to take this class so there had to be two classes, which is out of the ordinary since there is usually only one Capstone class.
This hands-on class is bringing in more seniors, exclusively, every year. Matt McCreery said that students should take this class to “expand their knowledge on the environment and to get outside more.”
Hannah Howard said that students should take this class because “it allows for students to interact with other students while doing field work which doesn’t usually happen in other classes and lets students to learn outside of the classroom.” The students get to go on field trips, positively impact their school environment by cleaning up the trash, and learn more about Earth and the life on it.
On this specific day students that don’t usually work together because they are in different classes got to work side by side to clean up the trash and tie dye shirts. Students like Matt McCreery and JM Krajc got to get in a group and clean up the trash in both of the school’s parking lots.
All of the students dyed a shirt to wear for the field trips. The shirts are going to be worn on the field trips so that Mr. Roberts can keep both of his classes together since everyone will be in tie dye. Some field trips the class already took this year are going to a bee farm, the local abandoned mine drainage at the watershed, and down to Rotary Park. Here a group of students attended to picking up litter and properly disposing the trash.
This day was not only planned by Mr. Roberts but also by students. They picked and planned this day’s project as part of their summer assignment. This shows that the students in this class are driven and have plans to help their environment prior to even being in the class.
This day ended in success as the clean-up was completed and everyone returned home with their own tie dyed shirts and many full garbage bags with trash being thrown away properly rather than on the ground around the school. “This day let me work outside of a classroom with my peers to benefit the school so overall it was a success and it was enjoyable,” JM Krajc said.
This hands-on, honors science class is for people that are motivated to bring change and want to learn about the environment through real life, in person experiences. The students from this year’s class recommend lower classmen to take this once they get to their senior year and hopefully gain a deeper appreciation of their environment and their campus.
