Students leave cars at home for annual event

When arriving at Forest Park High School, you aren’t normally greeted by 50 cheering students, a marching band, a color guard, teachers, the principal, a magisterial district supervisor and a mostly empty parking lot.

But on Friday students couldn’t help but be excited as classmates flocked from every direction on foot, bicycle, skateboard, roller blades and bus — all leaving their cars at home.

“Get Green, Get Heard,” an event organized by Shannon Geraghty’s AP Government students, pushed students to live a green lifestyle. Their goal was to reduce the cars in the parking lot by “as many as possible.”

“I thought biking to school would be really hard, but it turns out Kermit was wrong. It is really easy being green,” student Sydney Millet discovered.

“Yeah, I long-boarded and it actually was really fun,” classmate Katie Boward agreed.

Students, teachers and administrators agreed that the event was fun and felt good. Almost all who participated felt that it should be done more than once a year.

This was the second annual “Get Green, Get Heard” event at Forest Park, which is an alternative assessment for the final exam for these AP Government students; it is a completely student-run, student-organized project.

“It is all about activism and showing you can make a difference,” AP Government student Jamie Lien explained. “It is government in action, which shows what we’ve learned so much better than multiple-choice questions and some essays.”

“I can’t believe just students at our school did this,” said student Ryan Guzik. “It really shows that we can make a difference. That us, just kids, we can start something and we can do something.”

The number of cars in the parking lot was reduced by 40 percent, which Forest Park students felt was a small but important success.

“You think that if you walk to school, it doesn’t matter and it doesn’t really help the earth,” student Sharif Abdelwahed contemplated, “but the first step is making a step.”

“And this isn’t just about today,” said AP Government student Sarah Magee, considering the progress the project has made from last year. “We want to emphasize a green lifestyle. We want more than just one day of walking to school. We want more people, in more places, doing more.”

Classmate Roberto Santos explained, “We are going to put up videos each day of little tips for going green, and just try to push those little steps to make a difference.”

The students aren’t just “getting green,” they made sure to “get heard,” gaining attention from Prince William County Supervisor Maureen Caddigan, R-Dumfries, and others.

“I think this is very worthwhile,” said Caddigan, who came out to cheer with the students and said that she will make a donation to next year’s “Get Green, Get Heard.”

“I’m going to be sure to come back and show my support next year,” Caddigan said.

“Each year they’ll be able to make this a little bigger, a little better,” said Geraghty, pleased with her student’s work and the resounding support of the school. “If you give young people a chance, they will rise to the occasion and make big contributions.”

Sophia Arrighi is a senior at Forest Park High School and a journalism student.