Sustainability has always been important to Falls Church City, and its schools are no exception. Meridian embodies ecological responsibility and green practices in its gardens, aquariums, and vivariums. The Environmental Club, led by junior Emily Marrow and senior Lilja Anderson, is the core of these initiatives.
Recently, the Environmental Club hosted the 2024 MHS Fall Harvest Festival, which took place during stable group on November 18. Meridian’s new Sustainability Coordinator, Ms. Tosin Adetoro, took the lead in this project.
“I think a big piece [of the environmental club] was to provide an opportunity for students to impact the community and get service hours. So the goal for the Fall Festival this year, and I hope for the future, was to allow students to engage in a short activity or service project to impact the community,” Ms. Adetoro explained.
The Fall Harvest Festival was centered around the harvesting of the gardens near the football field. The Environmental Club hosted other groups based on the goal of sustainability and service learning. The clubs set up tables in front of Meridian, and students from both the middle and high school had the opportunity to learn about various clubs and their goals.
One exciting initiative that attracted attention from students during the festival was the lawn mowing sheep.
“The sheep provide a sustainable way for us to remove invasive plants at the back of our school by the football field. [The sheep] come in hungry, and eat all the invasive plants that are difficult to remove,” Ms. Adetoro added.
Whether or not these sheep make a return is undecided, but the Environmental Club is working to bring them back, as they received a lot of positive feedback from students.
“The other part of sustainability less discussed is the mental and SEL [social emotional learning] part. As community members, we need to have this balance: work hard and play hard,” Ms. Adetoro noted.
While the sheep are gone for now, there are other new, exciting activities to look forward to. Such as the expansion of the Bike Club led by senior Paige Kessman, which is expanding to Mount Daniel Elementary. Other clubs are tackling creative ways to upcycle plastic from our cafeteria into jewelry and other artwork. Finally, our school is partnering with a company called “Get Green” which is looking into a sustainability tracking website that will be released soon.
“A lot of clubs are doing amazing things and I appreciate the passion that students have for impacting their community,” Ms. Adetoro concluded.
