Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22nd, and has been an observed holiday for over 50 years. This day is supposed to bring us together to celebrate where we all live, and to help us conserve our Beautiful Planet.

In Emerson, our community comes together in order to celebrate this day. Mr.Deo and Mrs.Rehak brought students together to show the true beauty of Earth. 

After a talk with Mr.Deo, he shared that he wishes, “ …we could do more to get more students involved. I am following up with Mrs. Rehak in planting vegetables (kale, Swiss chard, Romaine lettuce, collard greens, and green onions) and flowers in the courtyard. I wish more people would realize that our tiny planet is very fragile, and that we should do whatever we can to keep it healthy so we do not become extinct.”

Mr.Deo is also a part of the Garden Community here in Emerson Junior Senior High School. He is an avid gardener, and even keeps leaves in his backyard to allow them to decompose so he can use them as fertilizer for his spring vegetable garden.

After further discussion with Mr.Deo, I learned about his favorite part of Earth Day. He stated, ¨I love that as a school community we can celebrate Earth Day together. Our hallway exhibition was very simple consisting of Mrs. Rehak’s Garden Tower showing how to grow plants indoors without any soil, Mr. Alan Lorber (retired Art Teacher) leading students in painting spring flowers, Mrs. Bieber’s wall posters of business companies – including Apple – showing environmentally best practices, and Mr. Deo showing students how to make greenhouses from spinach plastic containers to sow seeds.”

There are many components that come together to make Earth Day such an amazing day for the Emerson community. Hopefully, next year the Emerson community will come together, and celebrate this amazing holiday once again.