Recycling at Richmond High School (RHS) is something that simply did not occur before. Previously such groups as Youth 4 Environmental Power attempted to start a recycling program. In the end, their attempts were simply ineffective because no one followed up the year after the program was set up. The ironic thing about the situation is that though many students showed interest in their environment, something as simple as separating recyclable materials from everyday trash, did not happen. José Loera, a junior at RHS, for example stated that he thinks that recycling is”good for the environment and that it’s part of the circle of life.”
Luckily, this year the Leadership class that is taught by Joshua Hastings, a Cultural Geography and World History teacher, decided that they would work on creating a recycling program as an entire class. The Leadership class concentrates on teaching students about how to become leaders and help their community. The class takes part in all of the schools activities like assemblies and rallies. At these events, they help usher, organize, clean up, etc.
The class was motivated to start a recycling program by their own personal desires to improve their school and community. Unanimously, they came to the consensus that this year it would be necessary to tackle an environmental issue because recycling would help the school look better and it would create a more ”Green” environment for everyone in the school. Students not only planned and helped design the recycling program, but they also learned about the topic and its benefits. After, acquiring the necessary facts, they planned ways to use them to help other students and teachers recycle. To start their project it was necessary for the students to get administration to work with them, which did not take much time. Then, they had to go door-by-door asking teachers if they had recycling in their classrooms and if not if they would be interested in receiving a recycle bin. Dariel Escobar, a senior, reported that due to the lack of recycle bins before he had seen many “teachers using cardboard boxes as an initiative for recycling, the good thing was that the box could also be recycled.” Luckily, thanks to the efforts of the Leadership students now any teacher wanting to recycle has been able to acquire a bin. Many teachers not only wanted to start recycling in their classrooms, but asked that the Leadership students make quick informational presentations to their classes and share some of the benefits that recycling produces. Selene Calderon, a junior at RHS and part of Leadership, said, “I feel that it’s important to take care of the environment and its time for Richmond High to increase its efforts even more.”
Recycling is a good thing to do when a person wants to help their community and environment. By recycling a person can really make a difference according to www.recycling-revolution.com, “Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours — or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.” The recycling craze has really taken off for example now companies are starting to produce hats from recyclable materials among other things.
Leadership students will be picking up the recycling from all classes on Mondays during third period. This is one small step for students and one big step for Richmond High.
