The drop-off circle and playground area were bustling with activity on Friday, as Academy sixth graders collected recyclables during a paper drive and lower school children cleaned up litter in the playground, all in honor of Earth Day this Sunday, April 22. The weather cooperated, bringing sunshine and warmth to aid in the students' endeavors.

For the recycling drive, every student who brought in a bag of paper received a chocolate coin as a token of appreciation, with the class that collected the most winning a class treat. Withi the help of Ms. Jewett's sixth and seventh grade math classes, Mrs. Whitaker and the sixth grade students were able to estimate the weight of the collected paper. The estimated total was close to 3,500 pounds! Almost every class contributed to the drive and the amounts collected per class ranged from 5 lbs to nearly 1,600 lbs. Mrs. Varty's class brought in the most amount of paper from the Early School.

Says Harriett Whitaker: "At the start, it was a close race between Mrs. Wolney, Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Karle and Mr. Lapadot's classes. We thought Mrs. Karle's class had it in the bag with the McCuish family load. However, Mrs. Mobley brought in two carloads full of medical magazines and journals, helping Mr. Lapadot's class pull ahead to win!"

The sixth graders will treat Mr. Lapadot's class to a special celebration.

Lower School students "did an awesome job," according to Barbara Karle, in their clean-up project during recess. Donning gloves and armed with plastic bags, the children broke up into teams and collected "two huge bags of garbage and some large pieces that wouldn't even fit!"