Moorestown Friends Community Joins Together for Earth Week

Photography by Aidan Short ’23, Marketing and Communications Photography Intern

Earth Week at MFS took place April 18-22 and featured a number of activities that helped raise awareness of our daily environmental impact. The special week was developed and coordinated by the Faculty and Staff Environmental Stewardship Committee (ESC).

Kicking off the week was a special surprise for students, faculty, and staff: a vibrant array of indoor plants were added to liven up the Stokes Hall Lobby. ESC members Preschool Assistant Pauline Williams and Lower School & Grade 5 Coding Teacher Rachel Kaplan noted that the plants were added to “serve as a reminder to the community that we should feel connected to more life forms than just other humans.” As the week progressed, students, faculty, and staff participated in Trashless Tuesday, ECO games, an All-School Meeting for Worship and Earth Day Assembly, and to end the week, a Lower School Earth Day Fair which was orchestrated and led by the Upper School Environmental Committee. 

The Lower School Earth Day Fair was a special opportunity for the Upper and Lower School students to connect and learn about the environment around them. It involved three stations – flower planting, birdhouse making, and a visit with native wildlife from the Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge. 

“We were delighted to have Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge visit us with their Raptors and Reptiles program,” said Aidan Short ’23, a member of the student Environmental Committee. He noted that special guests Athena, the Great-horned Owl, and Chevy, the corn snake, came to MFS to teach Lower Schoolers about the native wildlife around them. “It was delightful to see the many smiling faces of our youngest students as they watched and learned about such unique animals,” said Aidan.

While Earth Week has ended, it’s impact continues as community members participate in a mascara wand collection for Wands for Life, a company that reuses the wands to brush and clean animals. Moving forward, the ESC hopes to continue to enhance the curriculum already in place and help teachers incorporate environmental stewardship into their classrooms.