Cathedral School Celebrates Earth Day!
From the Eaglets through the nearly-graduated, all 340 Cathedral School students and 30 staff members celebrated Earth Day on April 22nd with round-the-clock activities designed by the Science Department (chaired by Mrs. Kelley Garay and Mrs. Pat Mercer).
Starting directly after Mass, grades 6th, 7th and 8th began pulling sod, digging beds, composting and planting along the south side of school in an effort to beautify the Sheridan Boulevard facing of the school. This work was done in cooperation with Nebraska Nursery and Color Gardens under the direction of Cathedral School alum Angie (Hastreiter) Vandersnick. Eighth grader Peter Chasten commented, "My hands have never been so dirty, but I loved it!" Peter's classmate Aaron Vrbka added, "It's neat to think that this will be something that in the future, as adults even, we can look at and say, 'we were part of it'."
Chief Administrator Monsignor Tucker took a break from scooping compost: "It's our duty to take care of God's creation. Today the students learned so much about this duty, and also had the opportunity to get hands-on and a little bit dirty."
Principal Jeremy Ekeler said, "I believe the families, kids and community deserve an attractive school of which they can be proud. As amazing as these beds look now, in the years ahead - as these plants grow - it'll look amazing. The students were tremendous and should be proud of their work here."
But the Junior High students weren't the only ones getting dirty: Grades pre-K through 4 visited multiple stations designed and directed by 5th grade students. Themes included reusing items, recyling, conservation, solar energy, and many more. Mrs. Garay said, "The weather was perfect, the 5th graders were fantastic teachers, and the kids were so engaged that we struggled to even get them back inside for dismissal."
Cathedral School Earth Day is the second event developed by the Science Department, which has also recently entered the "Pilot and Develop" phase of its updated approach.
