Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle: For the past several years, the Gilman School Environmental Club, led by Will McCabe ’10 and Evan Sweren ’11, has strived to place this message into the minds of students. How exactly does one translate thoughts into actions? Mr. Carey, faculty advisor to the club, had a couple answers.

“We have to use resources, but we have to use them wisely,” replied Mr. Carey when asked about the club’s mission, which promotes awareness of, acceptance of, and participation in initiatives designed to aid the environment. These projects include the creation of the Lower School garden, the planting of two rain gardens around the Middle School and the implementation of a new composting system to handle lunch waste.

The school-wide effort to conserve comes from the club’s philosophy as stated by Mr. Carey, “It’s going to take everyone, not just the fifteen people in the club,” to make a difference. To do so, the club facilitates the efforts of different elements of the Gilman community, bringing together students, faculty, staff and administrators.

Equally important to the success of the program is the creation of awareness among students. Junior club leader Evan Sweren described this as crucial to the club’s success. “We don't want awareness in the sense that we bombard the school with facts about what they should and should not do, but instead awareness where people only take the amount of food they need, reuse paper when needed.” The club eventually envisions a community where, “People shouldn't have to think about whether or not they should recycle; it should be a life style.”

Quite possibly the crowning achievement to date of the environmental club is the success of the new composting program. Over forty tons of waste have already been diverted from landfills. That waste has instead created new soil. Despite this impressive achievement, the club is not resting upon its laurels. As Sweren says, “One of our primary goals is to create a 'waste free' environment [in which] all of the school’s unused materials are either recycled or composted with none thrown away.” Other plans for the future according to Mr. Carey include conserving electricity with motion detectors for lights, saving paper through email, and exploring renewable energy through solar and wind. It is of little surprise then that Gilman’s program has been touted as a model for other schools, with numerous leaders from the area astounded to see second-graders sorting their trash into the proper categories.

With more stream cleanups planned and more initiatives in the works, it looks like Gilman’s environmental streak is here to stay, motivated by the sense that, as Mr. Carey said, “We have come a long way, but we can do better”