K-8 students join the worldwide Climate Strike

Saturday, 20 September 2019: A week’s learning, writing, and drawing culminated in 16 students in grades K through 8 being out on the sidewalk in front of the Mesilla Town Hall holding posters they had made.  They were inspired by Greta Thunberg, the courageous Swedish teen who has galvanized people for action on climate change.  Dr. Lou Ellen Kay, our Head of School and science teacher, presented the daunting story of global climate change, including videos of climate scientists and of Ms. Thunberg in a viral TED talk.  Students chose their own climate poignant comments on climate and made their own posters.

On Saturday the students, teachers, and 3 parents walked to the Mesilla Town Hall, arriving at 1 o’clock.   They arrayed themselves along the sidewalk with their posters, to show them to passing motorists.  The response grew slowly, rewarding the students’ work, as more and more vehicles slowed, honked horns, and waved.  Only one climate denier yelled a contrary view.  A photojournalist from the Las Cruces Bulletin took many photos herself and then interviewed students and Dr. Kay. The group of 16 dedicated young people and their accompanying adults trekked back at 2 o’clock to resume classes, hoping they had helped to make a difference in how we all deal with the largest existential threat to humanity.

Here’s the group of students along Avenida de Mesilla:

They each composed and drew their own posters: