The rain didn't dampen the spirit or the commitment of Baltimore School for the Arts( BSA) students during their Earth Day activities. Although the neighborhood cleanup was canceled, BSA students remained engaged in educational and fun activities to better understand their impact on the environment and connect with their community.
The Earth Day Celebration was planned and coordinated by the BSA’s Green Team, a student-led organization that fosters awareness of and participation in environmental preservation. Inside the school’s entry atrium, students responded to a prompt: "How can we be better to our 
environment?" Through displays, materials, and conversations with the Career Coach and Community Coordinator, they explored careers in the environmental fields and learned about community resources available. They took photos with a “green” photo frame, and student DJ Nefer Purvis provided lively music.
As part of enhancing the “awareness” goal of the celebration, BSA’s Student Support Team (including the school social worker and 
psychologist) led calming activities, inviting students to respond on a "What am I grateful for?" board and learn about mental health resources.
The Green Team also sold seedlings from the "final wave" of their annual seedling sale! The Team offers over 40 types of seedlings, ranging from herbs to flowers, as well as peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers; each wave coincides with the appropriate planting time for the seedling. The Green Team raises over $1,000 annually for school improvements. Previous projects have included fencing around the garden beds in front of the school and rain barrel plantings of tulip and hyacinth bulbs, which team advisor and BSA Special Education Coordinator Anne Laro brings back from Amsterdam each summer.
“People lose track of where we are in this world,” said Luisa Clunas, this past year’s Green Team student leader. “We're trying to help the world and leave it better for other people.”
Other Green Team activities throughout the year leave the school community, the neighborhood, and the world in a better state. Luisa spearheaded BSA’s use of Green Healthy Smart bins for recycling, which not only collect recyclable materials but also “remind our peers about how important recycling is. Recycling is a transfer of wealth,” she says. Clean-up activities, such as in the school’s Mt. Vernon neighborhood or at Herring Run Park, generate 25 to 30 bags of trash. The group also holds a yearly joint event with the Jewish Student Group to learn about and celebrate the Jewish holiday of Tu B'shvat, the "New Year of Trees.”
“We’ve had students decide to carry their love of the environment on to major in Environmental Studies or Science after graduating from BSA at Johns Hopkins, Oberlin, and St. Mary's!" notes Ms. Loro.
Rising senior Kai Beauvois-Ransome will lead the Green Team this coming school year. “As an art school, we have a lot of creative minds. People want to support nature being part of their lives and everyone else’s. We want to make sure everyone can enjoy being outside and bring some nature into their lives in the middle of the city.”
Physically improving the immediate Mt. Vernon community is just one way the Baltimore School for the Arts embodies its commitment to the community.
As Ms. Laro says, “We want to be involved in the neighborhood. We want to make Mt. Vernon a better place. We use Mt. Vernon Square as a stage; our jazz ensemble performed at the Flower Mart, and Black Student Union students read their poetry at a park event. We work with the nearby Maryland Center for History and Culture and collaborate with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. We’re blessed to be in such an amazing neighborhood.”
Environmental activities at BSA are an excellent example of how students participate in programs outside the traditional classroom setting to expand their minds and change their perspectives, as defined in the Growth & Enrichment goal of the Wholeness pillar of City Schools' Portrait of a Graduate.