Environment Month at Centro Educativo Salesianos Talca, Chile

In the framework of the Environment Day celebrated on June 5th, the Salesianos Talca Educational Center dedicated the entire month to raise awareness in the Educational Community about the care of the Common Home.  From May 29 to June 2, a week of activities was commemorated, where respect for the environment was emphasized in the students, motivating them to safeguard and cultivate Mother Earth, as stated in the encyclical letter of Pope Francis Laudato Si.  This letter, which focuses on the canticle of the creatures of St. Francis to praise and thank God for creation, was made known.  

On June 2nd, at both sites, different activities that can be developed for environmental care were shown.  Students were encouraged to join initiatives that promote environmental actions in all teaching modalities.  The science teachers made a Green Note, which deals with the care of the school's environment and all the spaces.  This was done with the support of characters from the television program 31 minutes.

On May 31, a talk on recycling was given to the students of Sede Sur by Eugenia Aguilera of the company Verde Maule, who explained to the students the importance of recycling and learning how to do it in this time of greater awareness of caring for the planet.  After the theory, the students had a practical workshop on what to recycle and how to do it.

Recycling was promoted with the "I recycle as a family" contest for all students, through videos that had to be sent to the teachers in charge. 

Elementary school students made posters and costumes with recycled material.  In the corridors of the CEST there were exhibitions with relevant information about caring for the Common Home, with phrases from the encyclical letter Laudato Ti, Praise be to you my Lord.

On June 9, in Buenos Días, the prizes were awarded to the winners of the "Recycling as a Family" and Poster Making contests.   They are Tomás Agusto 5°A; Alonso Alvarado 5°B; Cristóbal Garcés 5°B; Joaquín González 5°A; Bastián Gaete 3°A; Mateo Durán 1°B; and Vicente Valderrama 4°A in the poster contest.  And Julián Henríquez 4°A; Gaspar Illanes 2°B; and Alonso Roa 4°A in family recycling videos.

The Clean Points are installed at the two CEST sites.These work throughout the year, every Friday the students delegated by the environmental delegates of the courses take the waste from the Ecocajas and deposit it there for recycling.   In Sede Norte this work is carried out by the Ecological Brigade, which has been in operation since 2019.  At the South Campus, the environmental delegates, which are increasingly becoming a Brigade. 

In order to continue raising awareness of the culture of caring for the planet, the Environmental Committee was formed, composed of those responsible for this issue, professors Carla Farias and Nicolas Ulloa, the rector Reinaldo Castro and the communications manager Claudia Varas.

During the month and throughout the year, meetings will continue to be held with students and parents in order to continue educating and raising awareness about this collective action to protect the Common Home that is our planet.

 All this to give continuity to the work done during these years and enhance the institutional seal that refers to the care of nature and living environments in relation to the pastoral educational community with the environment, advancing in an ecological spirituality, as proposed by Pope Francis.