Keep Episcopal Green

By Henry Barrett '18

When you hear the name Episcopal High School, what do you think about? Does the Woodberry Game, late-night study sessions, or CATs on a Friday night come to mind? How many of you thought about our school’s environmental stewardship? I can tell you I did not. But, although not as quintessential as other Episcopal traditions, our school’s care for the environment goes far beyond many other boarding schools’.

If you took the time to go onto Episcopal website, under Boarding Life you would find a tab labeled Environmental Stewardship. The page is packed full of facts and figures few would ever imagine applied to our school. For example, I knew Laird Acres was big, but 32 acres of untouched land in the middle of Alexandria? Impossible. A deer population? Not us. Our dining hall a Certified Green Restaurant®? That is a thing? But actually, yes, this all is true about our school. We track all energy usage on dorm, recycle rain runoff to water our gardens, and have planted over 600 trees as a part of the EHS Promise campaign. Our school has gone far beyond the call for action. It has provided so much for our campus to be the most sustainable and eco-friendly as possible.

Another initiative this school has taken up is environmental community service. Thanks to Rev. G and the Service Council, many of us have had the chance to spend some time over at the Seminary raking leaves, planting flowers, and watering the landscape. Or maybe some of you have worked in our organic garden with Mr. Duffield one afternoon. Others might have simply remembered to recycle that cardboard box from yesterday’s mail. But if you want to get further involved, I encourage you to take some time to read the TV screens in the dining hall about sustainability, try out a new community service opportunity, or just stay informed. But in everything we do to keep this school eco-friendly, no matter what it is, we alongside of the administration can do our small part in keeping Episcopal the green campus that it is.

"Environmental Stewardship." Episcopal High School, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.