Loomis Chaffee celebrated Earth Week on April 15 through 19 with a program of activities and events coordinated by Project Green, the student-led environmental organization, and students in Loomis' environmental sustainability and agriculture programs.

The celebration featured several campus exhibitions. They included an artistic display of Loomis' sustainability goals in the entryway of the Scanlan Campus Center, a symbolic representation of campus daily output of trash in Grubbs Quad, and an outdoor exhibit of student-written poetry inspired by nature.

In a Dialogue in the Common Good on Tuesday, April 16, students and faculty discussed sustainable farming, mindful eating, and ways to educate the community about foods that are environmentally-friendly and produced in sustainable ways.

During a community free period on Thursday, April 18, Director of Innovation Scott MacClintic '82 demonstrated a student-built plastic recycling machine in the Pearse Hub for Innovation. The machine shreds plastics from laundry detergent bottles and other plastic trash and produces compressed plastic sheets or blocks that can be used to make new items, such as napkin dispensers.

On Friday, April 19, Mountainfilm On Tour presented a collection of high-action, environmentally-focused documentaries from the annual Mountainfilm Festival held in Telluride, Colorado. The films were shown on a big screen in the Hubbard Performance Hall.

During lunch periods all week, students sold succulent plants, with the proceeds going to support sustainability initiatives on campus. The week of activities concluded on Sunday, April 14, with voluntary participation in the Boomerang Bag Project, which makes re-usable shopping bags from recycled materials.

Earth Week events were a combined effort of Project Green, the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies, the Norton Family Center for the Common Good, Writing Initiatives, and the e-proctors and ag-proctors, student leaders in the Alvord Center's sustainability and agriculture programs. E-proctors this year include senior head e-proctors Mark Valadez and Kiki Szemraj; senior Ryan Chan; juniors Kelly Eng, Daniella Kapur, Neala Sweeney, Aaron Yang, Griffin Malkin, and Ryan Jones; and sophomores Elizabeth Chapman, Aidan Gillies, John Howley, Alejandro Rincon, and Sophie Rodner. Ag-proctors include senior head ag-proctors Nina Gildor and Julianna Lee; seniors Jocelyn Chen, Ashley Chung, Brady Jalili, Walter Krissel, and Sharon Zhou; juniors Dylan Fargis, Sumin Kim, Megan Lam, Jonathan Kim, Ian O'Connor, Josh Phillips, and Becca Yen; and sophomores Kendall Rice and Pun Sanqruji.

Jeff Dyreson, associate director of the Alvord Center, encourages interested students to apply for leadership roles as e-proctors and ag-proctors for next year. Information and applications are available in the Daily Bulletin.