By AMANDA HOFFMANN
"It was a way to have fun while reusing stuff," said eighth-grader Lauren Cassidy, 13. Like many of her classmates, Lauren has taken to heart the school's focus on going green and found ways to lower her impact on the environment. "I'm using stuff I found from around the house to make my costume," she said.
The school's 1,100 students had 20 minutes to dress several students from each class in a costume they designed out of newspaper. "It goes along with our green initiative," said Nancy Morris, the head of student activities.
Morris said that the school has been working on ways to reduce its impact on the environment, while teaching students to reuse and recycle. Students were given brown bags for trick-or-treating, which could be returned to the school and recycled after Halloween. The school also set up recycling bins for old costumes, many of which have plastic elements, like face masks.
This school already has recycling stations on every floor, for aluminum cans and plastic bottles, and a cell phone recycling station in the lobby. The school lunchroom also pitches in, collecting cardboard juice boxes and aluminum can tabs. "We're really looking to change things and make a difference, so we're all working hard on it," Morris said.
The middle school has teamed up with the Save the Earth Foundation, a non-profit group focused on environmental awareness, for nearly two years, ever since Morris contacted the founder of Save the Earth, Neal Pargman, with an idea to bring the initiative to schools. "Through our work with them, we realized the only way we can make a difference is if we have the kids on it, protecting the earth for themselves," Morris said. "We're calling it 'Save the Earth, School by School.'"
Pargman said the pilot program with the school is the first of its kind with his group, which has teamed up with colleges and universities. "I found the younger kids are more into it than adults," he said. "They seem to have this feeling - whether it's a spiritual thing or what, but they really feel this is their Earth. The adults are all caught up in their daily lives and the economy, and we'd rather turn our heads or sweep it under the rug, and these kids really take it to heart."
Lauren and classmate Pranav Bahuleyan, 13, said they have applied the green lessons they've learned in school to their lives at home. "I learned it really is a big issue that affects everyone a lot," Lauren said. "I'm a lot more careful on how I use paper and electricity and am a lot more aware of eco-friendly products. We started recycling more at home and cutting back how much electricity we use at home."
Pranav said he recycles magazines and newspapers at home, along with aluminum cans, and he has made posters for the school to promote recycling. "I learned that even though it's just one school, it can make a big difference," he said. "We could reduce the rate of global warming and many other bad things that are happening in the world now."
Incoming students got their first taste of the initiative on Oct. 10, when the school powered down for the day and turned off its electricity. Teachers did without their laptops, and security personnel signaled the end of class periods by ringing bells manually in the halls. Students also participated in a contest to see who could produce the least amount of garbage in the lunch room.
"It's funny, but people want to join in," Morris said. "This is a buzzword right now, and as you look at the world and things falling apart, it seems to be the time is right."
Pargman said the green movement has been slow to grow, but he believes it has finally sunk in. "It's interesting to see there finally is a movement," he said. "I started in 1972, and it's like it took 40 years for middle America to start to accept it. People thought it wasn't going to affect them in their lifetime or their kids' lifetime. They thought it was thousands of years off."
One of the keys to saving the Earth, Pargman said, is making sure that the youth know what they can do to protect its resources. "When you start young like that, it becomes a part of your lifestyle," he said.
For some Oceanside students the green initiative is already ingrained. "Recycling and going green and becoming aware of what you are using and how you use it is important," Lauren said. "I would keep doing it the rest of my life because if you don't, you'll suffer from it in the future."
Some childhood lessons don't always make it to adulthood, but Lauren believes this is one that will continue to build momentum. "I think there are a lot of people trying to go green," she said. "It will stay around for a while. I don't think it's a fad like other things are."
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