Jefferson Middle School students and their families get ready to clean up their school grounds as part of a family engagement Earth Day activity. Submitted photo

Jefferson Middle School recently held an after school family engagement activity revolving around Earth Day. Jefferson Family & Consumer Science teacher, Sara Patterson, helped spearhead the activity, which included a clean-up of the school grounds and nature-related activities. The group collected six bags of garbage from around the school.

“I was surprised at the amount of trash that we collected around the school,” said Jefferson sixth-grader Adrianna McSkimming. “I wanted to get involved in the Earth Day clean-up because I saw so much trash everywhere and felt bad that it was affecting the environment. Also, when you do stuff like this, it makes you feel better about yourself because you are helping out the environment.”

Mrs. Patterson talked to everyone about what Earth Day was and why it was important for everyone to help their community. A poster that asked “What Can You Do To Help the Earth?” was posted and everyone wrote an answer. The group also completed two fun activities: creating peat pots with a choice of herb or flower seeds to take home and making “worm” cups with gummy worms and chocolate “dirt.” Mrs. Patterson also brought in apples and granola bars as a treat.