By Aria Mildon, Reporter
Every Monday during lunch, the Green Team can be found in Mr. Browning’s room. The student group spends its time organizing projects and activities in order to protect and raise awareness about the environment. The Green Team has already completed a variety of projects in their time serving the school. The club is made up primarily of seniors, one of whom initially joined as a freshman.
“I joined as a freshman for my citizen science project that was a requirement in Biology [with Ms. Jellison],” senior and Green Team member Linnet Chappelka said. “After completing that year, I decided to come back again, and [I] have stayed with the club in order to complete the roof garden.”
This rooftop garden has been successful thus far. It has been outside the window of the library for a significant amount of time now, and the Green Team is working to expand it. The garden provides a relaxing view that students can view from the library, and also provides a rain filtration system instead of just having all the excess rain water drain onto the ground where it is not used.
Another project that the Green Team is planning is the integration of mason bees onto the school campus. These bees do not sting, but they would pollinate plants and help to restore the dwindling bee population. Mason bees can pollinate flowers and make it so gardens can grow better. This should benefit both Chautauqua’s garden and the McMurray Middle School garden.
“Both the middle school and the elementary school [have] a garden, and I think it would be cool if we also had one,” senior and Green Team member Jane Oswald said.
In years past, the high school has operated a garden in the space across the street where a low key orchard is currently grown. That area has since become overgrown, but the high school has the space to build a garden there that can rival that of the elementary school garden.
The Green Team also participated in a live radio interview in order to raise awareness for its actions. Oswald and Chappelka were both featured on the the show, which was aired on Voice of Vashon.
Though a few underclassmen are eager to carry the torch after the seniors graduate, the green team’s senior leaders predict that the club’s numbers will drop dramatically next year. They believe the Green Team remains a great way for students to get involved if they care about the environment, and are hoping to see more students join this effort