Should GHS Do More to Celebrate Earth Day?

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Photo: Rockport, Massachusetts, July 2021

Samantha Baril, Contributing Author

Earth Day is an important holiday. Every year on April 22 Earth Day is celebrated as a way for people to think about our planet and appreciate the natural world. Along with appreciation, it is important that we also use Earth Day as a way to raise awareness for the growing climate issues of our planet, with the increase in natural disasters and rising atmospheric temperature.

Goffstown High School (and Goffstown School District) recognizes Earth Day every year. Being now a senior in high school and having gone to Goffstown School District since I was in kindergarten, I recall some great memories of Earth Day in elementary school. I remember one year we decorated tote bags and learned the importance of reusable bags. Another year we all got to take home a sapling and were taught how necessary trees are in our environment and touched on the basics of deforestation. However, by the time I entered middle school and later Goffstown High School, it has felt that Earth Day has become more and more of an afterthought. I don’t recall many events that took place on Earth Day at school since my elementary years nor have we spent the day really learning about the issues our world is facing. Of course some teachers do make an effort to use the day to encourage students to care for the planet and go outside and garden or appreciate nature, however, there hasn’t been much beyond just that, and seeing as how it is more important than ever that we care about our planet, I believe that Goffstown High School should do more to celebrate Earth Day and use it as an opportunity to educate and help our community.

Of course, I wanted to get other student’s opinions on this topic, especially those who have been in the school district for many years. I asked senior Emily Hughes what she thought about whether or not Earth Day should be celebrated more at Goffstown High School, and she responded ”I absolutely believe that GHS should celebrate Earth Day more. It has never been more important for our teenagers and young adults to learn and care, because we will be the ones determining the future of the earth. I think that if GHS celebrated Earth Day more explicitly, then students would feel more motivation to care about Earth Day and, ultimately, the environment.”

Fellow senior Julia Wright explained her thoughts on the situation. “We should celebrate earth day more because we tend to forget about the harm being done on the environment. If we all collectively participated in Earth Day, we would be able to learn more about these harms and what we can do to help the planet. There are some clubs that do participate, such as National Honors Society and the Environmental Club in which they tend to the school’s garden and do clean-up operations around the town. If it was a whole school activity, it would be beneficial to both the students and the school as we would all have the experience of making the town a better place and it would be educational too.”

When looking at the involvement in Earth Day of National Honors Society and the Environmental Club, I believe that their efforts are extremely important. However, because their activities take place after school and within clubs that not everyone is able to participate in, it unfortunately is only a small group of people out of the 1,000+ student and faculty body at Goffstown High School who are actively involved. Therefore, I feel that if Goffstown High School dedicated the day to having different groups of students and faculty help with gardening, trash cleanup, and informational sessions, our school would be able to make a difference in our community on Earth Day. It is important that on Earth Day we take a step back from the normal day-to-day functions and take the time to appreciate our Earth, and making Earth Day activities an in-school event, we would be able to accomplish that goal.