Inspired by the Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice, Students Lead Environmental Audit at Boston College High School
BY ISN STAFF | June 22, 2023
Inspired by presentations from speakers and knowledge gained from the 2022 Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice (IFTJ), three members of Boston College High School’s Class of 2024, Will Hartford, Danny Moylan, and Jack Reardon, collaborated this past academic year to form the Laudato Si’ Initiative of Boston College High School. Over the course of six months, the team compiled interviews, invoices, data, and internal reports into a single environmental audit to present an overview of the school’s ecological impact, from electricity use to the quantity of plastic recycled.
Together the students worked to identify, research, and present information on the school’s consumption practices, which currently rely heavily on fossil fuels. Targeting both energy use and materials consumption, the team persevered through challenges in collecting, collating, and articulating the data to offer a holistic picture of both those areas in which Boston College High School finds success in progress towards environmental consciousness and aspects in which the institution can improve.
Image: Boston College High School
Ultimately, the Laudato Si’ Initiative team hopes to open the door to conversations about school values and the obligation to the earth and one another, as outlined by Pope Francis’ seminal 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’: On the Care for Our Common Home.
“The Laudato Si’ Initiative team at Boston College High School are among the many young leaders at Jesuit and other Catholic high schools who are making environmental justice a reality in their school communities,” said Brenna Davis, director of integral ecology for the Ignatian Solidarity Network, who recently compiled a video highlighting the ecological actions being taken by Jesuit high schools throughout the 2022-2023 academic year, including those of Boston College High School. “We are grateful that students are taking what they learn from the Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice and putting them into action.”
They are blessed with fearless minds and confidence in their hearts. Young people are change-makers. The present and the future of Planet Earth is safe in the hands of the young.