Editor’s Note: This piece was also posted in the Benet Herald 2023 Graduation Edition.

Benet’s Environmental Club has carried out their mission to help the community go green through various projects, competitions, and conferences. Some of the many projects the club has run include the Earth Day Tree Drive, the annual succulent planting, and the famous pancake breakfasts. These breakfasts raise money for the club’s initiatives like Terracycle, a program that recycles items normally thrown away, and the tree planting project. The tree planting was a project that served the Lisle community by planting trees and shrubs in a vacant area with frequent flooding. That project was also funded by the prize money from the SkyDay global competition for environmental art. In addition to the SkyDay competition, students also participated in the Sustainable Design Challenge, which allowed students to make a sustainable home model and present it to a panel of judges. In addition to local and global competitions, the Environmental Club has participated in regional conferences, such as the Catholic Climate Youth Conference and Envirothon. The Catholic Climate Youth Conference allowed students in the Chicagoland area to convene to discuss how to tackle the climate crisis as Catholics. Envirothon is a regional competition that requires students to take tests about different aspects of the environment and present a solution to a climate change issue. Both competitions gave students the opportunity to connect with students in the area with a similar passion for environmental advocacy. The club is taking charge of Benet’s environmental efforts, now more than ever, by expanding their projects beyond Benet. Senior Tom Viz affirms, “We as a community have made meaningful strides to make Benet and the greater Lisle community more green.” Utilizing a variety of tactics to solve various climate issues, one thing is certain: the Environmental Club’s passion for protecting our planet.