The Gardening Club held an Earth Day Extravaganza to celebrate Earth Day 2021. The Extravaganza would include a virtual art competition along with the students’ creativity to illustrate the importance of this day.

The theme of the extravaganza was Earth Day; students from middle through high school used their artistic skills to draw, sculpt, craft, or design a piece that portrayed the importance of maintaining the environment. They presented their art digitally or the traditional way with pen, paper, and art supplies.

The pieces were turned in digitally and votes took place on “Earth Day,” April 22nd, 2021.

The winners of the Earth Day Extravaganza competition was Hawaa Bahreldin, Xahil Rodriguez, Susan Juarez, and Lexa Lara.

“We did provide an incentive to participate,” he stated, “but we hope that in creating an art piece, the students were inspired to learn more about the environment and the world we live in.”

The art competition is not just all about winning, but a way to bring the message of Earth Day through creativity. It allowed the Preuss community to celebrate the important event representing our promise to protect the environment against pollution, deforestation, global warming, and much more.

According to Carlos Bahena (‘21), Gardening Club President, he hoped to spread awareness about the environment and Earth Day through the lens of an art piece.

“During virtual learning, it was a bit difficult to keep the Gardening Club alive,” said Carlos Bahena, a senior from Preuss. “However, through the use of jamboards, presentations, and the bookmobile, we’ve managed to come up with a solid framework for doing an online Gardening Club. Every Wednesday during lunch, the officers meet and we plan an activity for Friday’s club. Our club meetings cover a wide variety of topics, from ‘Gardening 101’ to ‘Environmental Justice’ (to name a few).”