World Environment Day 2024 at St. Joseph’s, Australia

At the foot of the picturesque Mt Dandenong Ranges is St Joseph’s College, Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia. World Environment Day is an extremely important day on our calendar each year.

June 5 2024 was no different. It was a very productive day for our staff and students with many activities planned across our college to engage boys from different Year Levels. Our Year 7 and 8 Environmental Student Team participated in a sustainability workshop at Knox Environmental Society. The boys learnt about their local environment along Ferny Creek and the indigenous plant species and native animals that inhabit this area. We then got a chance to get our hands dirty and propagate cuttings to help regenerate these areas. These junior students were accompanied by staff and some older students who came along as part of our Big Brother Program where senior students volunteer to support the junior Boys.

At the same time our Year 9 Campus celebrated the day by harvesting pumpkins and herbs from our vegetable gardens and lemons, oranges and grapefruit from our orchard. The students made a delicious pumpkin soup and lemonade which was served to our staff and students throughout the day raising money for the Samoa Missions.

Over the coming weeks we look forward to promoting to all our students and staff our Waste Free Lunch Challenge in an effort to reduce soft plastics and rubbish in our community.