Dover High School’s sustainability club, Earth Action, hosted an Earth week this past April as a collaborative effort with several other schools across the seacoast that are attached to Seacoast Students for Sustainability. When we were pitched the idea to plan a full week to celebrate the Earth and bring attention to the upcoming rally planned by SS4S, we were beyond excited to throw an Earth-themed spirit week. Our Earth Action members worked hard to pull the week together because we saw it as a great opportunity to bring awareness to learning about nature and sustainability at DHS. Each day had a different theme, collaborations between school clubs, and some fun, educational posts on our social media.
On Monday, we encouraged people to wear second-hand clothing pieces in an effort to raise awareness about the environmental harm that fast fashion causes. This went well following our clothing swap in early March, which provided a place for students to donate unwanted clothes or pick up someone else’s old outfit, free of charge. Many students were wearing pieces they got from that, which was really exciting to see.
Tuesday was animal day, students wore shirts, socks, etc, with photos of animals or animal prints; On our Instagram, we posted fast facts about animals and extinction. On the same day, Earth Action also did a collaborative meeting with Dover High’s Women Empowerment Club. We hosted a game of trivia to learn about influential women environmentalists throughout history, which was received with excitement from the members of the group.
In a similar vein, we collaborated with DHS’s Project DREAM, a group working hard for racial equity in our community, on Wednesday (solar system-themed day!). With D.R.E.A.M., we played another trivia game to educate club members on influential people of color throughout the history of conservation, environmentalism, and sustainability.
Thursday was season-themed, prompting each grade to dress up as a different season. On this day we arranged a discussion with a teacher here at DHS, who spoke with us about how she and her husband lived almost entirely waste-free for a year, and let us know some tips and tricks we can incorporate into our daily lives. It was an inspiring discussion and properly set the mood for Earth Day the next day.
Friday was Earth Day, and we spent our Earth Action meeting outside in our sunny courtyard picking up trash and appreciating our little slice of nature in the middle of our school. After school was the event we had all been anticipating, SS4S’s Climate Rally. We did our best to advertise the rally to Dover students throughout the week with posters, announcements, and social media, resulting in a great turnout of DHS students at the rally! One of our very own, Finn Graff, an Earth Action officer, and SS4S committee member, gave a speech on the importance of defending nature, alongside many other moving speakers.
The outcome of not only the rally, but the whole week, was more than we could have hoped for. We saw a lot of exciting participation, giving us hope for future plans for working towards making, not only Dover but the whole seacoast a more sustainable place. We are excited to keep working towards making that difference here at Dover High.
(If you’re interested in any of the groups mentioned, check out @dhs.earthaction, @dhswec, and @dhs_project_dream on Instagram).