Environmental Club's Perseverance Pays Off

Water bottle refill station
   Three years ago, Quakertown Community High School science teacher Tina Sullivan had an idea. The environmental science and biology teacher wanted to find a way to reduce the amount of plastic water bottles that end up in the trash. Why not try to get the school to install water bottle refilling stations?
   The Environmental Science Club, where Sullivan is a co-adviser, then began its mission to get the filling stations installed.
    The club decided to collect water bottles left in classrooms over a 1-week period. During that week, they collected more than 3,000 water bottles. Only in classrooms! That number didn't even account for the number of bottles students threw out in the cafeteria.
    Students then made a display of all the water bottles to draw attention to the amount of plastic SHS students were throwing away. The group then began to work with Student Council and school administration to find money to purchase the stations and have them installed.
     This past summer, all of that hard work paid off. Two water bottle refilling stations were installed. The club encourages everyone to bring refillable water bottles to school to cut down on the amount of water bottles. The club hopes that another station or two could be added in the building in the future.
      The club is also taking on other sustainability issues this year. Stay tuned for more information.

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