Cutlery losses in the cafeteria affecting the school community have been recently communicated to students in high school. These are being solved through the education of 9-12th grade students by student leaders from GIN and NHS.  

Many students had noticed plastic increase and price raise yet were unaware that these were consequences to what was happening and a need for communication arose. Since the past X- Block in September 5, student leaders went to every high school class to brainstorm ideas to solve the cafeteria issue. 

“There were no communication channels that help everyone understand how complex this issue is,” Britta McCarthy, curriculum coordinator and GIN mentor, said. 

Gabriela Passentino, Calculus teacher, considers that the lack of information about the raise in prices and the increase in non disposable utensils in the cafeteria led to confusion amongst teachers and students.

“Prices were raising to $7.000 which is an outrageous price influx,” Passentino said. “There really wasn’t a reason for that but later on I did find out that there was.”

Furthermore, Passentino considers that this generation must pay a cost and be aware that it is a long and difficult process but one that must be fulfilled in order to do what is correct and achieve sustainability.

“We need our students to be educated on it and in the past, we have used x-block using NHS students, but it didn’t go too well,” Passentino said. 

In order to have an inclusive process, the school decided to express what is being done by setting clear goals so the community started to analyze the consequences of their patterns of behaviour. 

“The school has said our graduates should be critically conscious citizens that have a responsibility towards global sustainability,” McCarthy said. 

As a sustainability expert, McCarthy mentions that the attitude, open mindedness and the critical thinking of student leaders will allow them to review multiple perspectives in order to analyze the different angles of the issue. 

“Students should understand from the perspective of the cafeteria and they are encouraging students to take responsibility for the issues that are happening and developing solutions,” McCarthy said. 

Additional to the empathy aspect that McCarthy mentioned towards the cafeteria, support and feedback from different members of the school staff could guide student leaders towards research. 

“Having a mix of the GIN teacher sponsors with the students and creating compelling evidence and data to shock them and to show them it is an easy solution we just need to be more respectful and responsible of the cafeteria,” Passentino said.