Pitching in for World Environment Day

For this year’s World Environment Day, our Student Leaders here at WCHS participated in a clean-up of our school grounds during Session 5. This clean-up allowed them to not only understand the scope of how much rubbish can be left in a large high school, but also identify the kinds of rubbish left behind, the problem areas that it is left in and identify improvements they can pitch to the school.

One of our student leaders remarked, “I hadn’t even considered how much rubbish was left around the school until I started picking it up. Now I realise just how much there is!”

Other leaders were quick to express admiration and appreciation for our gardeners, thanking them as they went by. This chance encounter also allowed them to conduct a brief interview with the gardeners, where they learned that the two can spend up to three hours independently picking up rubbish! They also listened to the student leader’s ideas on rubbish improvement, offering helpful advice such as spreading woodchips over the gardens so that rubbish can’t be easily hidden.

Some of the other ideas pitched by our leaders included installing steel bins that can be drilled into the concrete so they can’t be cracked or tipped over, painting bins to make them more colourful/stand out and in-school promotion of cleanliness to encourage self-awareness and reflection. This will allow students to participate in physical activity during recess and lunch in a clean environment.