“Our power, our planet” was the theme for this year’s Earth Day. According to the official website for Earth Day, over 10,000 officially registered Earth Day events happened in 2026. Earth Day has over 50 years of history, starting with an air and water pollution teach-in at college campuses coordinated by Wisconsin junior senator Gaylord Nelson.
On Wednesday, April 22, the Archer Council for Sustainability partnered with the Artemis Center for Public Service and Social Good to host an Earth Day celebration on campus. The festival occurred during lunch and included activities such as outdoor yoga, a station where students could learn how to upcycle their clothes and a sustainability-themed trivia and raffle.
During the event, ACS also sold fresh, locally sourced berries and hosted a single-use-plastic-free bake sale in support of the Green Superheroes Movement, a global nonprofit with a mission to “educate, inspire, and support young people as they take action to protect the planet and their communities.”
ACS executive board member Sabrina Rifkin (‘28) created the Berry Booth, a pop-up stand that has appeared at other Archer events, such as the Artemis Center’s call-in. It sells fresh berries sourced from a local, organic farmer. Rifkin started the Berry Booth as a way to raise awareness and make locally sourced produce more available to the Archer community.
“I’ve always loved sustainable agriculture,” Rifkin said. “I thought it would be a great idea to bring it to Archer and help the community know about farmers’ markets or have it more accessible, if maybe people don’t go all the time.”
ACS executive board member Colette Wakeford (’28) encourages people to get involved with sustainability efforts. She said making small, sustainable changes to one’s daily life is a good starting point for people who want to make a difference.
“Little things matter a lot,” Wakeford said. “Reminding your friends to recycle their trash or picking up after somebody or just talking to people, reminding them to do their part. I think that’s a great first step.”
Ellie Kim (‘32) participated in various activities during the celebration and said she learned about different sustainability-related issues. Kim said she was “annoyed” by the fact that most three-compartment trash cans at Archer do not have separate trash bags for each section — thus waste meant for landfill, recycling and compost all go into one bag.
“I’ve seen it before, and I knew it was … bad,” Kim said. “I thought it was just that one and I didn’t realize it was actually with all the trash.”
In addition to the Earth Day celebration, ACS has also organized and led several other events to raise awareness in the Archer community, including middle school and upper school assemblies that taught students about environmental advocates, local organizations and how to get involved at Archer.
“I think it’s just to spread awareness of trying to become more sustainable,” Wakeford said. “It’s such a huge issue and something that we all can participate in. So by doing it, it gets more people involved.”
Rifkin said she hopes people are interested in becoming more involved with learning, engaging in, and supporting events that promote sustainability and protect our environment.
“It doesn’t have to be something huge,” Rifkin said. “It can be a small change you make in your everyday life, and it’s still making a difference.”
To Wakeford, Earth Day is an important event to celebrate. She believes it is a holiday that can bring awareness to the declining state of our planet and empower people to get more involved with reversing some of the damage done.
“I think it’s important that more people gain awareness of the fact that climate change is a threat to our planet and just have a little bit more awareness of our decisions and our choices,” Wakeford said. “We’re not always aware of how much harm we’re doing in our everyday lives.”
