Blessed Sacrament School goes greener

Students finding ways to help the environment, from recycling to reusable bags

(SAVANNAH) May 4, 2009 – Students at Blessed Sacrament School are helping make the school greener, and are starting to see they’re making a difference.

They’ve put a recyling bin in every room, and every Thursday as they empty all the full bins they’re reminded of the difference they’re making. Last school year, all that paper would have been thrown away. Parents and teachers are also filling up the ink jet recycling bin.

“Our generation needs to be the one to act, to help the environment and make a difference,” said Heather Carpenter, co-president of the schools’ National Junior Honor Society. “Since the honor society is the role model for the school, it made sense to start with us.”

“I just think the little kids look up to us and when they see us excited about recycling, they get interested.”

Honor society co-president Caroline Paddison agrees that changing habits may end up making a big difference, as students who recycle at school might bring the habit home.

“It’s small but it’s a difference,” Caroline said. “You have to start somewhere. If you don’t start, you’ll never get anywhere.”

“I think we really are making a difference,” she said. When it’s time for her classmates to clean out their binders, everyone rushes to the recycling bins instead of the trash cans.

“I think it makes them feel good,” Caroline said.

Caroline hopes other schools get on the bandwagon.

“If other schools started doing it, we’d really make a difference,” she said. “I think it would be really cool if all the schools started it. (Students) need to bring the idea up to their teacher and principal because a school that’s not doing it is not helping the environment at all.”

“We recycle a lot of paper,” Caroline said. “Schools use a lot of paper.”

She hopes the honor society expands on their work in future years. This year, members use reusable cups and cloth napkins with snacks at their meetings. Students made posters with tips about how to help the environment. Sixth-graders just completed a persuasive essay on saving the environment and the students are reading them in class. The school also recycles aluminum.

The honor society also sold reusable bags as a scholarship fundraiser, with over 300 bags sold.

“The whole school has been trying to do better for the environment,” Caroline said.

Blessed Sacrament School was founded in 1939 with two classrooms and three sisters of Mercy as the first faculty. Today there are two sections of each grade level from Pre-K through 8th grades with a current enrollment of approximately 425 students. The school offers a rigorous, faith-based academic program and maintains small class sizes. Blessed Sacrament is part of the Catholic Diocese of Savannah and has received accreditation by both SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) and FCC (Florida Catholic Conference).