Green Team to elect all-new leadership staff for next year

Green+Team+faculty+advisor+Diana+Moss+informs+the+assembled+students+about+the+leadership+application+process.+The+Green+Team+will+elect+all-new+leadership+after+all+of+its+previous+officers+graduated.

Kshithija Mulam

Green Team faculty advisor Diana Moss informs the assembled students about the leadership application process. The Green Team will elect all-new leadership after all of its previous officers graduated.

The Green Team released leadership application forms to students today at a meeting in Spanish teacher and Class of 2015 dean Diana Moss’ room. The club will elect new officers since all of its previous leadership graduated.

“Well, I think it’s always good to have a new group of people with new ideas, a new perspective,” Green Team advisor and science teacher Dr. Katherine Schafer said. “I think sometimes people that have been in a club for a long time or have been involved in something for a long time feel like [the club] has to be the way it’s always been, so I think if you’re coming in with a new perspective, you aren’t carrying that baggage with you.”

For next year’s leadership positions, Green Team faculty advisors Moss, Dr. Schafer, and environmental science teacher Jeff Sutton are looking for a president and secretary for the club but are also open to other potential positions.

The Green Team, formerly known as the BOSS club, serves as the student connection to the Green Committee, a faculty-only organization introduced in the 2012-2013 school year that attempts to encourage conservation through all four school campuses. The Green Team works to promote sustainability and environmental awareness on the upper school campus.

Last year, the club implemented several projects in the community, the most notable being the “wet” and “dry” trash system, which sought to preserve compostable materials and is still in place on all campuses. Other initiatives include the removal of plastic cups for water and posters around campus discouraging the unnecessary idling of cars in loading zones.

“[Some] joined this year to try to do hydroponics,” Sutton said as he described past projects, namely an initiative to grow plants without the use of soil. “I think we’ve always sold stainless steel water bottles.”

Juniors, sophomores and freshmen attended the information meeting at the beginning of lunch today to learn about the application process and propose any other positions to be added to next year’s officer team.

“I decided to join the Green Team this year because I think that though a lot of people know our environment is important, they kind of see it as something like environmental decay or whatever happening in the far off future when it’s actually nearer than they think it is,” potential Green Team member Joyce Zhao (10) said.

Although the majority of the participants in the club consisted of students from the class of 2015 in previous years, students from different grade levels showed interest today in both leadership positions and general involvement in the club.

“I just hope that instead of just influencing my family to change their ways, I can hopefully influence the school to be more environmentally friendly,” Helen Xie (11) said.

Elections for Green Team leadership positions will take place online before the end of the school year. Students interested in registering or applying for leadership of the Green Team should contact Moss at [email protected].