Sustaining Sustainability - It Takes A Village
It has been another active fortnight for sustainability at Brentwood.
Most industriously, kudos to the the Grade 9 students, their teachers, and Mr Brennan for venturing into the snow, and sometimes rain, to support their Science 9 education by pruning a dozen trees in the school orchard. After lessons in photosynthesis, the carbon cycle, tree energy systems, and the difference between fruiting wood and unhelpful suckers, they took hold of the clippers, ascended the ladders, and got down - or rather up - to work.
This week, both Ms Knorren’s Human Geography and Mr Hacker Teper’s Life Sciences classes also rolled up their sleeves and pruned additional apple trees.
Last year Brentwood students harvested 1,450 lb of fruit which was happily consumed in the form of fresh cherries, plums and pears, as well as apples into sauce, pies, juice, and a very tasty Sunday brunch in September.
With the continued care of the Meta 9s, we hope to increase production in the fall of 2025. They will return to the orchard in June to thin the fruit - and then the Grade 9s of ‘25-’26 will start the process all over again in September with the fall harvest.
Midweek found seven BEAT volunteers cooking up a storm with Food Services star Ms Cindy Lehman in the Hope House kitchen making raspberry-apple jam. Cindy had harvested the raspberries in the summer, the students picked the apples in the fall, and in March we feast.
Friday morning at 5:30am found 17 BEAT members heading to the ISABC Student Sustainability Conference at UBC. BEAT Captain Ruby S, Hope, ‘25 led a BEAT trivia game for 500 attendees at the Opening Ceremonies, and more than half a dozen participated in BEAT’s Workshop: Game On - Making Climate Action Fun before 19 students from other ISABC schools. Kate M and Ella W also served as official Conference photographer and journalist.
And then, to come full circle from pruning to jamming to the pursuit and sharing of insights at the conference, Tighe K, Privett ‘25 & Megan C, Mack ‘25 and their team of volunteers served the jam over ice cream at dinner on Friday as part of Kindness Week. Ms Lehman then ensured the last of the jam was enjoyed with Saturday morning’s waffles - and she even saved a jar for the visiting Board of Governors.
Thursday’s Assembly featured a video recognizing environmental initiatives in the home communities of Brentwood students - and Mr Smith!
Finally, this morning’s BEAT meeting featured working groups of student volunteers planning invasive species removal on campus, anti-food waste posters, a spring campfire, sports teams' campus cleanups, and a recycling education campaign.
The BEAT goes on! You should join in!