One of our goals in middle school is to prepare our students to be advocates for change and to be passionate voices for issues that matter to them. For many of our students this year, that passion is the environment.

A few weeks ago, a group of middle school students decided to participate in the Climate Strike. Along with two teacher chaperones, the group headed to Market Street and joined thousands of others — from mothers and fathers with babies, to elementary students standing with signs on the sidelines, to floods of middle and high school students and grandparents — all with the goal of focusing the nation’s attention on climate change. It was a deeply emotional experience for the students and teachers alike, to see the city come together and walk in unison to draw attention to such an important issue.

But it wasn’t just about a one time march. Once the group returned to campus, the middle school as a whole talked about the strike and what changes they could make. Some proposed daily, weekly, and monthly challenges, such as “Meatless Mondays” and “An Hour Without Power,” while another group of students boldly decided to talk to Dave (our COO) and Chris (our Head of School) about the need to upgrade our energy tier to “SuperGreen”.

Our students think big and take action. They challenged themselves to make a difference, but they also want to challenge the PKS community to be more green. What will you do daily, weekly, monthly so that the planet is still here for their grandchildren and their grandchildren’s grandchildren?

"It is still not too late to act. It will take a far-reaching vision, it will take courage, it will take fierce, fierce determination to act now, to lay the foundations where we may not know all the details about how to shape the ceiling. In other words, it will take cathedral thinking. I ask you to please wake up and make changes required possible.” – Greta Thunberg