Hundreds of Montgomery County Public School students volunteered for Earth Day
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
SILVER SPRING, Md. (DC News Now) — As part of its new Resilience, Education, Action, Climate and Habitat (REACH) initiative, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) partnered with several organizations including the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Maryland to bring hundreds of its students out to volunteer on Earth Day.
Maryland, Montgomery County offering fare-free rides for Earth Day
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said at Monday’s event that it brought nearly 1,000 students together at A. Mario Loiderman Middle School in Silver Spring.
“It’s an opportunity for kids to learn about agriculture. It’s part of kind of environmental education for young people,” Elrich said.
MCPS staff and volunteers for Habitat for Humanity spent the day building portions of a farm, rehabbing a courtyard garden and planning bioretentions – an initiative developed by MCPS in partnership with Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming.
“It’s going to be a small farm,” Rev. Tim Warner, director for Faith Relations at the Habitat for Humanity Metro Orlando explained to DC News Now. “It’ll be a place where people can set up stands from what they grow to sell, so there will be some economic development here and it’ll be more than anything else a learning environment.”
Volunteers turn out in force for Hagerstown and Washington County Earth Day activities
The hub will support food production and climate resilience as well as teach MCPS students how to engage with their community.
“I’m so happy the DEP is partnering [with MCPS] because this is the next generation … this is showing everyone that we all have a stake in making the earth a place,” said Ann English, landscape manager of Montgomery County’s Department of Environmental Protection.
The initiative is one that resonated well with students who came out to volunteer on Monday.
“Today I really learned that I can help the environment by just doing little things … it was pretty exciting because I felt like I was something bigger than myself,” MCPS student Anya Garg said.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
