Environmental Stewardship
As a Quaker school, MFS advocates for the responsible stewardship of planet Earth and is committed to ensuring that all students understand the central role they play in conserving resources, living simply, and leading responsibly in an age of environmental degradation. Opportunities to learn what it means to be an environmental steward should extend to students of all ages and in all disciplines. There is great potential to use the MFS campus as a model and a large-scale classroom for educating students about environmental citizenship. Intentional choices about physical plant and curriculum can help reduce costs and carbon footprint, while deepening students’ understanding of and commitment to the fundamental Quaker testimony of stewardship. Through this strategic initiative, MFS has the potential to better align the school’s mission with its curriculum, business decisions, and actions as a Quaker institution.
Guiding Queries
- How might students act entrepreneurially in service of environmental sustainability?
- How might we transform the MFS campus into a platform for learning about environmental sustainability and responsible stewardship?
- How might we reduce our environmental impact as a community and campus?
Vision
The school’s campus and programs will demonstrate a commitment to environmental sustainability and its students will be actively engaged at all grade levels in stewarding a healthy relationship with our planet and its resources.
GOAL:
Develop an approach to environmental stewardship at MFS, including curriculum and facilities, that is consistent with our Quaker values.
Upcoming Initiatives:
- Begin implementation of goals and initiatives from the school’s long-term plan for environmental sustainability
- Review sustainable practices in the Dining Hall
- Conduct a baseline assessment of MFS’s environmental footprint and targets for improvement
Environmental Stewardship Snapshot
Preschool and Prekindergarten Students Serve as Stewards for the Playscape
The youngest MFS students have become tremendous stewards for the MFS Playscape. Every grade in the Lower School at MFS engages in a community service project as part of the service learning component of the Lower School experience. This year, preschool and prekindergarten students excitedly helped the Maintenance Department care for one of their very favorite places on campus. Opened in 2021, the Playscape is an outdoor play area in which students are surrounded by nature through every season, with colorful, ever-changing bushes, shrubs, and flowers of all shapes and sizes displaying berries, pods, and a variety of leaves throughout the year. There are over 2,600 new plantings featuring 27 different species of plants!
Since January, students have been working on a weekly basis with Maintenance staff member Brian Fidiam to care for the space. Brian has provided the students with guidance, instruction, and mentorship as to how to properly care for the many elements of the Playscape. Tasks the students have performed have included:
- Planting/caring for plants and flowers
- Sweeping sidewalks
- Raking the sandbox and dirt under the swings
- Picking up sticks, rocks, and trash
- Shoveling snow
- Raking leaves
- and much more!
Every Wednesday, Brian and 10 students traverse the Playscape performing guided maintenance while also learning how to become stewards of the environment.
“We talk to the students about the Quaker SPICES, one of which is stewardship,” said Prekindergarten Teacher Kate Hilgen. “Along with Lower School Quaker Education Teacher Sonia (Guzman), the students have embraced the work to care for the Playscape and now look at this area with a different lens as they serve as stewards of the space”
Brian Fidiam has enjoyed working with the students. “The students have been great to work with and really care about the Playscape,” he said. “ I’ve tried to educate them about the reasons we have to perform all these different types of maintenance to be sure it always remains a beautiful, clean, and safe space to play. They have been a great help and it’s always one of my favorite times of the week!”