With the season’s change, the Environmental Club hosted an Upcycling Garden Event as their final Climate Action Day to celebrate the end of the year. This action day in particular was dedicated to the health, wellness, and the green spaces of our environment, with the club focusing on mental health and organizing a day in the warm sun to boost morale.

The event took place on May 31st, 2024, during eighth and ninth periods. The club planted sunflower sprouts that the Environmental Club had grown in used plastic bottles that they collected in the months prior. Students then were provided with popsicle sticks to decorate and leave by their planted sprout or seed, to mark its growth by the start of next school year. Club members also decorated one of the garden’s surrounding trees with upcycled decorated plastic bottles from STEM Night, recruiting participating students at that event to help adorn the tree.

In addition to these activities, the event included a revealing of senior Chrysangel Tejada’s upcycled statue. Her sculpture was of a large upturned hand made of collected plastic caps and bottles holding a paper Mâché bird constructed by senior Acadia Collado.

Chrysangel revealed that the piece was meant to represent how society is trying to help the environment, and contrasting this concept with how pollution remains a detrimental problem.  Her sculpture depicted the plastic as the nest in which the bird lived, highlighting the many animals of the city who are overrun by litter. According to Tejada, the piece is  intended to show how much garbage we actually create just within our school.

Club member Zariya Molino hopes people get inspired and captivated by the work they do and join next year.

This year has been off to a slow start, but this event’s outcome indicates promising results for next year. Some senior members of the Environmental Club competed in New York City’s annual Envirothon, placing eighth out of twenty-two teams, the highest Curtis has ever placed.