This year’s SGA spring project, Patriots Think Green, is in response to environmental tragedies over the past year such as the Australian bushfires, California wildfires, heavy pollution in major cities and more. 

Each year the SGA comes up with a spring project that can range from mental health and wellness to environmental issues and everything in between. The goal of this year’s spring project is to educate students about global environmental issues and encourage students to take steps to actively improve their environment. “This project is really important because us students are the future, and it’s critical that we learn the importance of protecting our earth,” SGA president senior Owen Matus said.

COVID-19 has complicated the spring project, making it much more difficult for the SGA to make students aware of the project and to encourage them to participate. One of the ways that the SGA has overcome this barrier is by using the homeroom periods to present to students and grow awareness of what they have planned. “The homeroom video opened my eyes to a lot of new things and I learned that simple things like avoiding meat and turning off the lights can add up to have a big impact on our environment,” junior Keerthi Padmanabhan said.

One of the ways that students are being encouraged to safely take action is to support environmentally conscious businesses, contact local politicians voicing their opinion and get involved in their local community. Tuesday’s video presentation emphasizes that the small lifestyle changes students and teachers make can accumulate to have a substantial impact on the environment. “The presentation really got through to me because not only did it educate us of the problems that happen all around the world but it also suggested many ways that we can make a difference in our community,” sophomore Alec Fleischer said.

The SGA had a different theme for each day of the week, all promoting environmental awareness. Monday was cosmetics and beauty products, Tuesday was clothing and a homeroom presentation, Wednesday was national world wildlife day, Thursday was food and Friday was the conclusion with an assembly. “Even with the challenges that we’ve faced this year, we are focusing on getting students to take part in these events and learn important lessons about helping the environment,” Matus said. 

The SGA had this spring project originally planned for last year, but it had to be postponed when students were sent home indefinitely. It is just as impactful today as it would have been then with all of the recent environmental crises that have happened all around the world. “I really like the topic the SGA chose to focus on this year because it is important for us to be conscious of how we treat our planet and be aware of it’s condition,” Padmanabhan said.

The SGA is promoting a message of “no action too small.” “The project goes from Mar. 1 to Mar. 5 and more information can be found on Instagram at @woottonsga or the Wootton website,” Matus said.