Every Friday after school, a group of students in Green Earth Society donate their time and hard work to spend roughly an hour and a half visiting each SHS classroom. Their task is to collect the bins and boxes that are put out by the teachers in order to gather paper and other recyclable items.

“Green Earth Society is an organization that goes way back… and the idea obviously is just to promote helping the environment, recycling and things like that and so we try to get kids interested in helping out and doing that,” Green Earth Society co-sponsor Sarah Gott-Helton said.

Although some people may see this as an easier, minimal job, this is a very important task for participants, such as Gott-Helton and Green Earth Society president, junior Roben Lian.

According to Lian, the club has greatly impacted his life and the way that he observes certain situations. By that, he has learned to care for the environment and acknowledges the fault in things being thrown out instead of recycled.

“Even doing little things could impact the big things and also I see a lot of people throwing papers in trash but saving the paper means saving the tree,” Lian said. “I’m just doing it for the love of nature.”

Gott-Helton also sees the Green Earth Society in a similar way. Despite her awareness to how the boxes and bins help with recycling and reusing objects, she realizes that the school, herself included, still has room for improvement.

Gott-Helton hopes to soon get a grant to help pay for permanent recycle bins. These bins would be used to replace the cardboard and printer boxes that are currently used by many teachers. These bins will also be used to help promote more awareness and the importance of recycling.

“I think I am a little bit more careful about recycling,” Gott-Helton said. “And again I am not always perfect. I could definitely be better. I think we all could.”