Seventh Grade Ecology PSA’s

Seventh Grade Ecology PSA’s

"We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation.  Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith.  We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God's creation. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored."  ---USCCB Communications, Publication No. 5-315, Washington, D.C., 2005

In honor of the upcoming Earth Day holiday and our Dominican Sisters who actively educate others to care for God’s gift of creation, we are highlighting a project taken on by students in our 7^th grade-Ecology Public Service Announcements (PSAs). The PSA project is incorporated into our Geography curriculum, which includes both environmental and cultural units.

The project was designed to encourage students to be good stewards of God's creation and to do a small part in promoting awareness for the health of our environment. With almost 30 topics to choose from, students were able to create a PSA based on something that resonated with them during their course of study. Each of the environmental/ecological topics are relevant to future generations on our planet. 

Olivia Evans chose to promote preserving biodiversity-caring for the enormous variety of life on Earth. When asked what drew her to the topic she explained, “Focusing on biodiversity is important for the human race and animals. The two build and survive off each other.” Her classmate Michelle Martinez created a PSA on the global water supply, which addresses both scarcity and pollution. She shared, “There are so many dry places on the earth and only 40% of people have clean water. All humans should be able to have clean water.”

Students Pakito Cruz and Andrew Mayo both chose to focus their PSAs on pollution. Pakito used imagery “to symbolize the different types of pollution in the ocean,” he explained. Andrew chose to look at the overall pollution of the earth-including air, light, soil, and water. He believes this is important because, “We as individuals can make a difference in saving the Earth. We determine our future and the future of our planet.”

Mrs. Amy Cluck, teacher of the Geography course was thrilled by the amount of work and attention to detail her students put into the class. “They created some powerful imagery. Each PSA conveyed a message, some with and some without words.  This project is a small piece of teaching them to understand their role and responsibility in a local and global community.”