APPLE VALLEY, Minn. — April 22 has been celebrated as Earth Day for nearly five decades. But for one high school in the Twin Cities metro area, every day is Earth Day.
The School of Environmental Studies (SES) is a magnet high school on the grounds of the Minnesota Zoo. The Apple Valley school—serving 200 juniors and 200 seniors—is focused on the environment.
Earth Day is the biggest holiday of the year for SES students.
Seniors Mia Carriedo, Marisa Kingsbury, Beta Smookler and Eryka Quick were in charge of planning the day. It included speakers, a lunch potluck and community service projects in the afternoon.
"I know when I was in elementary school and middle school, you don't really do much for Earth Day. But here we do a lot. We designate a whole day to it," Smookler said.
One service project involved students helping Dakota County Parks by setting up recycling kits for campers. The kits include blue, green and black bags for recycling, composting and trash. Another project brought students outside, reading and writing poetry while surrounded by nature.
"Not every student comes in with a passion for the environment but we really like to believe that at the end of two years, they've learned a lot of things including to really appreciate the environment," Principal Lauren Trainer said. "And that there's many ways that you can demonstrate that through your career or just through your lifestyle."
Principal Trainer said part of their curriculum includes interdisciplinary studies.
"They get their English/language arts, their environmental science and their history or social studies credit in this three-hour class where the teachers team together and through themes that are environmentally based, kind of address these issues," Principal Trainer said.
"I think that's my favorite part about what I learned here is that everything is connected in a way," Kingsbury said.
Smookler came to SES her junior year and said, "I didn't really know a lot about climate change. I obviously knew parts of it but last year as a junior, you spend like almost a whole entire tri learning and talking about climate change and watching seminars. And it really opened my eyes to a new perspective of climate change."
Carriedo said attending SES has made her more interested in pursuing an environmental career.
"I'm making small individual choices but in the long run it's going to make a big difference, whether that's a positive difference or a negative difference. So I've just become more knowledgeable about kind of how I influence the environment around me," Carriedo said.
For people wanting to learn more about the environment, Quick said, "I think one main thing is to stay open minded and learn from other people and just be willing, have the willingness to learn more about what's going on in the world."
Besides observing Earth Day on Monday, SES was also celebrating earning a Gold LEED certification. Principal Trainer said SES became the first in Minnesota to receive the honor.
"So what that means is that our building now has met certain standards as far as sustainability and being kind to the environment. That's not uncommon for a building to be LEED certified. What is uncommon about it is that it was a completely student-driven process."
Principal Trainer said this student-driven approach to becoming LEED certified is a first in the state of Minnesota.