The Leap Ecology Club and Earth Day 2008

The Bronx High School of Science League of Environmental and Animal Protection, more fondly known as LEAP, provides a platform to inform the student body about environmentally friendly initiatives. This year we employed all of our powers to inform our fellow students and collaborate with other local organizations. We invited the school to a Vegetarian Thanksgiving, hosted a presenter from the Wildlife Conservation Society, and collaborated with our teachers to help decrease our school’s carbon footprint. Our wildly successful Earth Day Celebration introduced the Bronx Science students to organizations that support a greener New York, and had them showcase their knowledge and love of the environment. But all of the things we have done do not seem like they were enough, so in the spring semester and next year we plan to create resonating effects on our society. Here are the most important of our many future goals.

We have been working tirelessly to improve the recycling system in our school and held meetings with the custodial staff, head of Arista, Ms.Renata

Paolercio

, and the Assistant Principle, Ms. Pheobe Cooper about how we will create a more efficient system. As the custodians remind us, Bronx Science has a major problem with contamination of Recycle bins. It has gotten to the point where custodians don’t put clear bags into the Recycle bins because they know trash will be thrown in there anyway. To combat this problem, LEAP, Ms. Cooper, Ms. Paolercio, and our advisor Dr. Julie Mankiewicz, devised a flow of constant reminders to recycle for students: posters near all of the bins and in the hallways, announcements during Administrative Period, and having the proper bags and bins in all the class rooms.

Bronx Science has a Green House on our roof, but we are also looking for Green Roof that will create another area for Horticulture students to learn, filter the Bronx air and add a peaceful sanctuary on top of a hectic school. Our recording Secretary, Nola Dolan, took personal initiative in researching the benefits of a green roof and companies that could come and install one at our school. She wrote an email to school and Department of Education Officials petitioning reasons why it would be highly beneficial for Bronx Science t have a Green Roof. This is one of our long term plans, but we are collecting funding along wit a lot of excitement and momentum.

LEAP also has springtime plans to beautify our school. We are planning to dedicate a meeting to planting flowers near the science wing of the school. We ordered benches that will be placed there and many different types of flowers that our advisor, and horticulture teacher, Ms. Robyn Wolin says will thrive there. This will be a perfect place to escape the mad-rush that a Bronx Science student faces and is by the pathway to the buses that many of our Queens students take.

LEAP is committed to make the Bronx and the Bronx High School of Science a more beautiful place to live and learn.