Ranney Celebrates Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary

Ranney School students in all divisions celebrated Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary on Thursday, April 22 with a wide variety of activities to raise awareness of environmental issues. The Upper School went officially dark for the third consecutive year in “A Day Without Electricity” and turned off the lights in all its classrooms and shut down its computers. The planned blackout was spearheaded by ESTA, the Upper School’s (Environmental Students Taking Action Club). Along with voluntary blackouts throughout the Middle School and a mini-blackout early in the morning in the Lower School, the entire Ranney community banded together in an effort to conserve energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions as part of its weeklong observance of Earth Week, which officially began on April 18.

There were many exciting campus-wide activities that also took place to encourage students to continually strive to be responsible stewards of the environment. From Pre-K students making recyclable crayons and kindergarten students making recyclable bags to first graders planting rye grass and second graders exploring Ranney’s pond to discover nature objects, Ranney students reconnected with their environment throughout the week. Lower School students also received sunflower seeds to plant at home in honor of Earth Week.

Not to be outdone, members of Ranney’s environmental science class and several art students also joined in Earth Week observances and installed several frames around campus and hung “treemobiles on trees by the Upper School parking lot. The installations were designed to draw attention to the beauty of the Ranney campus and to nature that we oftentimes take for granted.

For additional information on all Ranney School news, please contact the Communications Department at communications@ranneyschool.org.