This year Westminster’s Middle School implemented a new class called Endangered Earth as an option for an eighth grade elective. This class focuses on creating a more sustainable environment as well as encouraging green practices in our community. 

The idea for the class came from Hartley Glass, who also teaches our ServeATL class and is the Middle School Civic Engagement Coordinator. Lauren Davis, the teacher of Endangered Earth, says “Having the chance to teach this course excited me because of all we still have to learn about how to best take care of our planet.” 

Students who signed up for the course typically came in already interested in environmental issues.“I picked this class because I’m really passionate about the environment and I thought that it would be a fun class involving topics I care about. I also wanted to find more ways to help the environment, specifically at this school,” 8th grader Margaret Anderson says.

If you walk into an Endangered Earth class you may find the students Zooming with the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management, debating about the most effective alternative energy source, creating posters to educate the community about endangered animal habitats, working to reduce our plastic waste, or cleaning up Westminster’s campus along Nancy Creek. “I really like how it’s not just hearing about the earth; it is also getting involved and making posters and raising awareness and doing hands-on things like gardening,” says 8th grader Greta Ferro. 

  The class has already gotten rid of plastic water bottles at lunch and planted multiple seeds in Westminster’s garden. “Our Endangered Earth students have shown us just how passionate and how impactful 8th graders can be in our own school community and in the wider world,” says Davis. 

In the future, this class looks to remain successful in reducing plastic waste and pollution, and any 7th graders interested are encouraged to join the class next year.