Celebrating Earth Day Across Campus

The campus was humming with Earth Day activities on Monday, April 22. The day began with an Upper School Chapel planned by the Environmental Club, featuring poems and talks about our planet and how we all can help with the stresses being put upon it.

In her remarks, Riley S. ’26 said, “By setting an example of advocating for what you believe in, you are not only amplifying your own voice, but also telling the people who have yet to step up that this work is important. By being engaged in the climate movement, you not only fight for the planet and its well-being, but also inspire others to do the same.”

Ishaan B. ’26 offered his classmates ways to take meaningful action, including becoming more educated about the climate, supporting sustainable businesses, managing food waste, and urging policy makers to advocate for sustainable policies. He said, “Every action you take brings us closer to creating a more stable future for ourselves and future generations.”

Other speakers included Anna K. ’26, Athena H.C. ’24, Sadie Y. ’26, and Ylana R. ’26, and Head of School The Reverend Michael Spencer. Music teachers Zachary Lenox and Joceyln Claire Thomas sang an earth-themed song as part of the event.

Also on Monday, the Upper School SOLVE Club invited Lower School students to make chalk drawings on the sidewalk outside Fariss Hall. Edward B. ’24, who helped organize the event, said, “We know the younger kids love to use their imaginations, so we asked them to draw a picture of their favorite plant or animal, or say what Earth Day means to them. This kind of activity helps us spread awareness and engage children at a young age about how important it is to protect the Earth.”

More activities were held by the Environmental Club during the week, including an eco-bricking workshop reusing clean plastic, a Kahoot during gathering, and presentations about the environment to Middle School and Lower School students. Spanish IV students created posters for Earth Day that highlight solutions to current situations in Spanish-speaking countries, emphasizing the 3 Rs: Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle.

If you haven’t yet, please check out our new page on the OES website, titled Sustainability and Environmental Awareness. The page describes the commitment at every level of the school to educate students and the whole OES community about the environment and how our sustainability efforts can make a difference in the future of our planet.

You’ve invited to enjoy this Earth Day poem, written by Sadie Y. ’26:

Before us there was land
And land was currency
Our territory
Not our territory
Fake property
Our ill-gotten gains,
Used for grains and
Now cranes stab the earth
And we build and we bottle and we birth
So much land
Too much land
Not enough land

Never enough land
Split it like pie between some
Others get nothing,
We say we do good by giving them crumbs
But their cities are crumbling
Their houses collapsing, drowning, burning
What do you even do with all that land?
What have we done to all that land?
Land that has been there
Millions upon millions upon millions of years
So unimaginable it’s not even a number
I dare you to find someplace untouchable
Send me there, to the
Maze in the island in the sky
And I will be humanity and it will be dying
And the land, our land, will be thriving
There's no way around it

Land is psychosomatic
Who gets to live where
And what gets to go here
And how to keep our resources from going scarce
Relinquishing is difficult
Dig deeper trenches
Keep digging
Past graves and dinosaurs and carbon dating
We'll make our own prisons
Then turn ourselves in
Keep digging
End up on the other side of the world,
Where there is still not enough land
You can't escape the earth
Not for lack of trying
Keep digging
There are people who will tear the ground apart
And search and search
Even in my maze in the island in the sky there will be people
One day
For now I will plow the maze,
I will farm I will live I will
Rip open the land
Keep growing
Can the peaches
Keep eating
Burn the wood
Keep warm
What’s left is less than before