Germantown Friends School fourth graders Sasha Fishilevich (right) and Leah Cornejo (left) demonstrate how to properly recycle a soda can at the Lower School assembly hosted by the Environmental Action Club.

Fourth and fifth graders at Germantown Friends School, who are members of the Lower School Environmental Action Club (EAC), taught an assembly about responsible trash disposal on October 27, encouraging their peers to be stewards of the earth by demonstrating which items can be composted and recycled and which ones need to be put in the trash.

“The students overcame their nerves of being up on stage in front of everyone and delivered the message perfectly,” said science teacher Jonathan Howe, who leads the Lower School EAC along with science teacher Karen Cherubini. “They want to get people to think before they throw things in the trash. It’s really that simple—just to be mindful of our waste and our materials.”

The club educates and energizes students about the environment and supports the many ways that the GFS community works to be green. As a result of this group and others, GFS composts food waste, hosts electronic recycling drives throughout the year, and provides special recycling bins for dried-up markers, old discs, used batteries and even granola bar wrappers.

“We want these students to have an awareness of the environmental issues that we face in the world, and to have a sense of hope and optimism that there are real things that we can do every day to help solve those problems,” Howe said.