• The Bulldog Press
• by Lexy Wright '12
• April/May 2010

Green is the new black here at Judge Memorial. The Judge Memorial Environmental Club (JMEC) has spread awareness, set up recycling and environmental campaigns, and taken action in the pursuit of a more eco-friendly community. Earth Week was no exception for the club, who put much emphasis on the importance of going green.

The mission statement that was created by the club members is to "provide an environmental conscious to all members of the Judge Memorial family."

Sticking strong to these principles, Mr. Hill, lead tree hugger and adviser of the Judge Memorial Environmental Club, makes it a high priority for all members of the Judge community to be involved year round: "We have done this by trying to educate everybody in environmental issues and the importance of going green."

Membership is currently at an all-time high with 76 active members, making the Environmental Club one of the largest clubs at Judge Memorial. Lead by a strong student leadership team, including eight team leaders, a president and two managers, the club has made an impact on Judge, which recycling efforts doubling according to Green Fiber recycling.

"We are trying to make Earth Day an all-school activity, not just a club activity," says Mr. Hill, displaying his passion for the environment through communal efforts. To spread the school spirit during Earth Week, the club held two CP contests: the first being a door decorating context, using recyclable goods; the second, a battery recycling contest. The winning CPs of each contest received a bagel/juice day compliments of JMEC.

Throughout the week, the club put on many school-wide events raising awareness throughout the community. JMEC members isolated two garbage containers in the lunchroom, in hopes of emphasizing the recycling effort for both paper and plastic recycling in all three lunch periods, to all students. The club documented the amount of recycling that the community can achieve during a typical lunch period in hopes they will understand the need of recycling in our building.

Another tremendous success lead by the club, was "Go Green Day." Students were allowed to wear green tops, teachers spiced up the curriculum by teaching in the dark, and all recycling efforts were emphasized during lunch, focusing on what the members of our community can do if we put extra attention into recycling efforts.

Students also supported the Environmental Club by participating in the CP door decorating contest using recyclable goods containing an environmental theme, purchasing Club t-shirts and eco-friendly shopping bags during lunch, with all proceeds going back to the Club for future environmental activities.

Environmental spirit filled the halls and it impacted tree huggers throughout the community. Ranging from teaching in the dark, wearing green clothing, and putting together drives to collect batteries and other recyclable goods, Judge Memorial's own environmental club exceeded all goals for spreading environmental awareness throughout Earth Week, and will continue to make an impact year round, making it their goal to educate everybody on the importance of environmental issues that face us, both now, and in the years to come.