ESSO Holds Second Green Apple Day

May 9, 2015 marked the second “Green Apple Day” of the 2014-2015 school year, during which students, faculty, staff and family members gathered to complete environmentally-focused projects, such as building butterfly houses, constructing bridges in the woods behind the Phelps Stadium and cleaning the cross country trails.

“My sense is that it was a chance to raise awareness of our campus and the landscape that comprises it, while also offering a nod to broader environmental concerns.”

In order to plan and execute another Green Apple Day, the Sustainability Advisory Committee, led by Senior Manager for Sustainability and Natural Resources Jill Robinson, worked alongside the student environmental clubs, facilities management and Exeter’s Social Service Organization.

The Academy was not the only school to participate in Green Apple Day. Schools throughout the nation with grades ranging from kindergarten to high school recognized it as a day of enviromental service. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Center for Green Schools, an organization which the Academy is a member of, Green Apple Day focused its activities around “trying to help schools develop as healthy places to learn, both indoors and out,” according to Robinson. 

Similarly, English instructor Jason BreMiller explained his goal for Green Apple Day. “My sense is that it was a chance to raise awareness of our campus and the landscape that comprises it, while also offering a nod to broader environmental concerns,” he said.

However, the committee decided to alter the usual, national activities for Green Apple Day by adding in projects such as the trail cleaning and the bridge building in order to accommodate and adjust to the resources Exeter possessed.

Additionally, the Academy made Green Apple Day an optional activity, asking students to sign up for projects ahead of time. According to Robinson, the Sustainability Advisory Committee cannot secure Green Apple Day as a mandatory event.  Moreover, requiring students to participate would have forced sports, work and classes to be cancelled, which this year’s schedule did not allow.

In the years to come, however, Robinson hopes to see this event grow and become large enough that the school would remove all other responsibilities prohibiting students from participating.

“If the campus community supports a day of community service, we would love to see this event grow next year so that all students, faculty and staff are given some time for an afternoon or morning where they don’t have classes or work responsibilities to attend to so that we all can work together on Green Apple Day,” she said.

Even though the event was optional, over fifty students, faculty, staff and family members gathered to participate in these projects, making Green Apple Day a success in the eyes of many.

“I thought it was a comprehensive success,” BreMiller said. “I was so happy to see roughly 50 people from our community up bright and early on a Saturday morning to get outside and work on our campus’ behalf.”

Students concurred with BreMiller’s remarks about the day but also wished for more participation in the future. “Although the jobs got done, there could have been more students to help out,” lower Juni Terry said.

Terry also explained that though the entire campus was not in attendance on Green Apple Day, due to the discomforts of waking up early on a Saturday morning, those who came out were passionate and eager to help out. “Making it not mandatory was good because it ensured that everyone who was there wanted to be there and truly cared about the value of community service,” Terry said.

Like Terry, co-head of Environmental Action Committee senior Connor Bloom expressed his satisfaction about the day. “I think the people who were there were excited about it and had a lot of fun, not to mention they really got things done,” Bloom said.

He noted that he was able to notice the immediate results of Green Apple Day, particularly the enhanced bridges the volunteers built on the trails. “I ran a trail run the day after Green Apple Day, and actually ran across some of the bridges they built,” Bloom said.

Despite the positive outcomes for each of the projects, both students and faculty believed that the turnout could have been better. A major reason behind the lack of participants was the lack of advertisements. Robinson explained that the word about Green Apple Day could have been spread around campus more effectively.

“We can do better with getting the word out; we made and posted many signs, three email announcements, as well as an announcement during Assembly, but I think we could do even more to reach more people who may be interested in participating,” she said.

With the different successes and letdowns of this year’s Green Apple Day, the Sustainability Advisory Committee looks forward to next year’s opportunities for an even better environmentally focused day.

To alter the issues they faced with disappointing attendance, Robinson explained that next year the committee would take a poll to see what time was best for a community service project. In addition to the poll, they hope that the day will extend out of the Exeter campus and that more students will participate in planning.

“I would like to involve more students in the planning so that we can really pick a good day and time of year for the projects and see if we could get a morning or afternoon cleared of classes and work commitments for staff and faculty by the Principal so that everyone would be able to participate,” Robinson said.

Additionally, Exeter is currently holding conversations with Andover about a “Non-Sibi Day,” which would allow Andover students to participate in projects at Exeter, and Exeter students, at Andover.

Nonetheless, unlike “Non-Sibi Day,” the committee is nearly positive that Green Apple Day will happen next year following the successes of this year’s optional day. Furthermore, an overall consensus arose within the participants regarding whether or not it should be planned next year.

“I will absolutely do it next year,” BreMiller said. “And hopefully Rosie, my daughter, will be old enough to tag along.”