On May 6th, HR students gathered during homeroom to pick up trash around the school to help support Earth Day. Students started by collecting gloves and trash bags from the front of the lunch room, then the students headed to their assigned locations. Each grade level had a different area to pick up around the school’s campus, making the clean up a lot more effective and efficient. 

Earth Day is a holiday celebrated by millions every year. The holiday was originally created in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson, to push this issue into the national agenda, and it worked. Earth Day is a very popular holiday and HR decided to celebrate by picking up trash and helping the community. 

The event was also a way to bond with friends and teachers while doing something positive for the environment. Addison Reis, sophomore said, “I liked Earth Day because we got to help the school and the planet stay clean as long as it can, and it was very environmentally friendly. I also liked it because my friends and I made it a competition to pick up the most trash, and it was fun to be with them and also help the environment.”

According to EduBirdie, in American schools almost 80 percent of the entire waste could be recycled or composted. Mackenzie Newcomer, sophomore, said, “I thought it was great to see all the students cleaning up. I feel like it led to a cleaner parking lot and brought awareness to the amount of trash that is in our area.” 

After the students were done picking up the trash, they threw away the trash in the proper location. Even though this is not a fix to the global pollution problem, the clean-up day made a difference in the HR community. 

Katarina Baylett, Staff Reporter