This is Why-Part Two

"Wherever you roam, be fully there."

I am the only person I know who has attended 3 high schools in their lifetime, but let me tell you, this experience I look back on and see many reasons why. I had the typical high school experience at the first high school, moved to the giant high school filled with new insights, then arrived at the last school ready to move on to college as quickly as possible.

It was the high school in between that may have affected me the most. I was only there for 4 months, but this high school in San Antonio changed me in many ways. From the "New Kids Club" that I haphazardly started with my sister, to discovering a love for theatre, to being jolted into real academic challenges and realizations, I became a different person. This was also where I first really learned about recycling. I met a girl named Molly who was from Portland in the first weeks at school, and her friendship became vital for me to survive at such a foreign place. She taught me about Locks of Love (I still participate today), MS, and lastly, recycling. I helped her start the recycling club at school, make tie-dyed shirts for the club, and attempt to educate those around us. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I enjoyed being a part and was touched by her passionate desire to implement recycling into the school routine.

When I moved to college and had recycling places available to me, I started recycling on my own. I would collect my computer paper, receipts, even Kleenexes, and dump them into the blue dumpsters on the way to class. I stopped getting plastic bags at the mini grocery store and would often walk back to my dorm with a pile full of items about to topple out of my grasp.

For me, these were necessary and not so inconvenient measures that I needed to take in order to save the trees, the environment, nature...all around me. I still wasn't completely educated on how it all fit together; I just knew it was something I believed was important to be a part of.