This year the Wayland High School Student Council (STUCO) hosted its annual Color Blast spirit week event from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 25. Each grade was assigned a wing to decorate that corresponded with their class color. STUCO invited students to come in and decorate that area with color-matching decorations.
This event offered the opportunity for WHS students to come together to represent their class with creativity and teamwork skills.
“There’s an important element of getting folks from classes together to do something that represents their class,” Student Council advisor John Keene said. “We want as many students as possible to come and join, like their peers, in decorating the halls.”
In past years, the winning class was awarded 50 spirit week points and a trophy to commemorate their efforts. This year was different as STUCO added a new variable into the point system. The stakes were upped to 60 points with 40 of the points being determined by faculty and the other 20 determined by students in WHS’s environmentalists club, the Green Team. The points will be awarded to the class who used the most sustainable materials in their display, and exhibited mindfulness about what materials they could recycle and reuse.
“We have the points from the Green Team so that students are encouraged to try to use more recyclable and reusable materials,” Keene said.
A part of maintaining a sustainable environment is bringing awareness to the waste products from certain activities. WHS offers a variety of eco-friendly initiatives and events that prioritize reducing waste. While Color Blast can offer an outlet for fun and bonding, the event also leaves a mass of leftover decorations that are typically thrown away, leading to an excess of trash.
“As a school, we have a lot of initiatives that are geared towards sustainability and being responsible members of the world,” Keene said. “Over the years though, we’ve noticed that Color Blast has generated a lot of waste.”
To reduce the eco-footprint of the event, STUCO provided eco-friendly base materials, including whiteboard markers, fairy lights and reusable decorations to every class. Lights, markers and non waste materials can be used for separate events in the future to reduce the amount of waste produced.
“We provide the base materials so that we’re encouraging people to use those more sustainable options,” Keene said.
This year, the different grades used their creativity to integrate these sustainable materials into their displays.
“Instead of using big pieces of paper, we used felt,” Class of 2027 executive board representative Lexi Roman said.
Some students also worked to reduce their decoration’s footprint by buying materials that were specifically marked as recyclable.
“We tried to get supplies that had the recyclable sign on it, and we tried not to get any unnecessary plastic,” Class of 2025 Vice President Emma Alongi said.
Besides encouraging students to use recyclable and reusable materials, STUCO further highlighted the importance of reusable materials by monitoring the clean-up process after Color Blast. These efforts helped ensure that all the decorations ended up where they needed to be. It can be easy to take handfuls of decorations and throw them out without paying much attention, but it comes at the potential loss of reusable materials. Observing the clean up process eliminated this possibility.
“We have committed to trying to be better this year by monitoring how E-Board members clean up,” Keene said.
These efforts for a more sustainable outcome allowed Color Blast to be productive and environmentally beneficial at the same time. By leaning towards reusable materials and being mindful of what’s being thrown out, the classes worked together to reduce their eco-footprint.
“It’s important to be thoughtful about what you’re throwing away at the end, so that we can make this event really fun and a community driven event while reducing the amount of waste we’re creating,” Keene said.
