By: Alex Clark

Throughout the school, there are many cubbies, but how often do we wonder what’s inside them? Across from room 213, one specific exhibit holds books, videos, articles, art and plushies, all to further allow students to educate themselves on environmental problems and activism.

Mr. Randall, the creator of the exhibition and supervisor of Green Team, wanted it to be a way for students to engage themselves by not only being curious about environmental science, but have resources at their disposal to further educate themselves. Mr. Randall comments about the origins of the exhibit, “When the school applies for our Green Schools Application, one of the things on that application is whether or not we have continued to add to our library of materials about environmental topics. So we spend a little money to buy an additional book or a video every year to keep it here on display.” Being a Green School shows that we take initiative in global sustainability, which is something that Grandville High School has valued with clubs like Green team, classes like AP environmental science, and mini libraries to help us stay educated.

In the cubby, we see a couple different items that demonstrate the school’s passion for this green initiative including little wolf plushies, and some interesting art that is as topical as it is unique. “We send money to the World Wildlife Fund and we’ve adopted a Mexican grey wolf by sending them $100 to put towards Wolf Conservation. They sent us a little stuffed animal as a thank you.” Along with supporting conservation efforts, the school also supports local artists too. “One of my favorite pictures is in the corner from a guy that makes paintings,” Mr. Randall says excitedly. “You can stay there all day and watch him do up to 50 paintings! He does it in a matter of a couple of minutes but that’s one of my favorite ones, a little tree on the Earth.” 

When asking Grandville Student Max Ungrey about how he felt after reading The Uninhabitable Earth located in the exhibit, he commented, “You know how after you watch a documentary you’re kind of inspired? And then three months down the line, it’s kind of small and not part of your life? Those kinds of books really bring it to the front of your mind and really make you actively want to think. Like what can I do to change my own personal habits? And the biggest thing was activism.” So it really comes to show how important and prevalent these topics are, especially to the student body.

“I hope that anybody that’s interested in climate change or climate Justice or climate racism or endangered species knows that there’s a lot of good material here,” Mr. Randall states, and it is absolutely true. It’s up to the students to take advantage of those resources by staying curious and discovering what we can do to combat environmental problems, and it starts with asking for a book.