by Jeremy Lewan
(North Bergen, NJ--April 26, 2018) The High Tech Environmental Club, moderated by advisor Cathy Yuhas, celebrated Earth Day with a school-wide carnival and planetarium shows presented by veteran science teacher, Shelly Witham, announced Dr. Joseph Giammarella, Principal of High Tech High School.
The carnival took place in the Resource Center from 2nd-8th periods. Students participated by bringing in recyclable items to exchange for tickets to play carnival games. One bottle, can, piece of cardboard, battery, e-waste item, newspaper, plastic bag or 10 sheets of scrap paper could be exchanged for one green ticket. The more recyclable items brought, the more green tickets received to play more games.
Games took the form of pop-the-balloon, giant jenga, can knockdown, "trash-ketball," and more. Each game corresponded to a different ecological problem, such as loss of biodiversity, climate change, oceanic plastic waste, and ozone layer destruction. Students earned the opportunity to sign a petition to persuade High Tech to end the distribution of single-use plastic straws, a major threat to marine life.
"This year, we are lucky to have made connections with the Hudson County Improvement Authority (HCIA), who brought a 12-foot inflatable Earth to the carnival," said Cathy Yuhas, the club's moderator.
After playing each game, students won blue tickets to exchange for prizes at the Farmers Market (a booth within the carnival). Prizes included chocolate-covered strawberries (made by culinary majors and Chef Turro), Dunkin Donuts gift cards, Hive Tech Honey jars, pencils, glass terrariums, and much more.
Ms. Witham's planetarium shows, held in a 14-foot tall, pitch-black dome, with a stellar projector inside, featured 45-minute long presentations on how to locate constellations in the summer night sky and provided interesting cosmic information about various star clusters and nebulae.
"This event is a fun way to get students involved and to remind them that they are all inhabitants of the same earth," said the president of the Environmental Club, Jeremy Lewan. "An event like this couldn't have been possible without the unwavering help from the members of the club.”
