Thursday was recycling day at MAA. Students diligently collected recycling bins in every classroom, staging them in the front hallway before bringing them outside for pickup. The monthly recycling rounds are spearheaded by MAA Student Council’s Commissioners of the Environment, two fifth graders and a sixth grader.

For one fifth grader, recycling is a concrete step he and his fellow classmates can take to help reduce the amount of trash that ends up in landfills: “Putting all this in landfills means we won’t be able to use it again and it creates more problems when it goes in a landfill,” he said. His fellow fifth grade commissioner loves MAA’s recycling program because of the community spirit it brings. “It is fun to really know that we are helping in a small way to stop global warming. I love that we do it together; it makes our community stronger,” she said.

These dedicated environmentalists are not stopping at simply collecting recycling, though. They are in the midst of planning recycling lessons for their fellow students and teachers. “Sometimes people recycle the wrong things,” they said in unison. They hope that their classes will reduce the amount of waste that ends up in the recycling, which is a big problem on a national level.

We are proud of our Commissioners of the Environment, their classmates, and Mrs. Lyons and Mrs. McCafferty, who are all committed to embracing the spirit of St. Francis by caring for our environment. What better way to honor the saint whose name is synonymous with a deep love for nature than doing our part in keeping the world clean?