In October of this year, Westridge Upper and Middle Schoolers strutted into the dimly lit PAC and turned their attention to the projection screen that covered up the set of the She Kills Monsters theater production. The Green Guerrillas club took the mic and educated the Westridge community on trash and its environmental impact with a slideshow. They shared startling statistics about Westridge’s trash production and ended with a Kahoot quiz for the attendees to take. Through their engaging methods of promoting environmental sustainability, the Green Guerrillas have surely made their mark on Westridge’s campus.

Advised by Ms. Erica St. John, Westridge’s Service & Community Engagement Coordinator, and led by junior Anna K. ’24, the Associated Student Body Sustainability Head, the Green Guerrillas are Westridge’s largest environmental club. The club was initially started in 2007 when a group of Westridge students felt that the school wasn’t doing enough to be environmentally sustainable. 15 years later, the Green Guerrillas mission to promote sustainability at Westridge remains. 

Once a rotation, club members gather to brainstorm, plan, and take action. Club member Alice C. ’25 said, “I think it’s a really cool club—they always do a lot of important school events.” One initiative of theirs is to promote composting. The Green Guerillas are currently working on reestablishing the composting area behind the art room with help from STEAMWorks design studio coordinator Mick Lorusso, and Upper School art teacher David Prince. The club hopes to get access to the Commons’ food scraps to keep Westridge composting on campus. 

When the Green Guerrillas see unnecessary environmental harm—like the amount of cups used at the Commons per day or the excessive use of paper on campus—they fight for a more environmentally friendly alternative. 

The Commons’ decision to start pre-packaging food again was a big concern for the Green Guerrillas. Anna said, “With pre-packaging everything, the salads aren’t coming in bowls anymore, they’re coming in those plastic metallic containers. The sandwiches are being wrapped in plastic…which leads to so much more waste than we really need.” However, after constantly emailing the Director of Dining Services Brandon Worrell about their concerns, Anna has learned that the main reasons the Commons can’t be more sustainable are because of staff and budgeting. With a higher budget the Commons could afford more sustainable materials and more staff to keep the line moving swiftly. 

The Commons isn’t the only Westridge facility that the Green Guerrillas want to improve. Anna gave a presentation to faculty encouraging teachers to turn off the lights when they leave the classrooms and close shades to keep the rooms cool instead of turning on the air conditioning. Additionally, since Westridge currently has solar panels only on the Science Building, the Green Guerillas hope to receive a grant to purchase more.

After the Green Guerrillas’ assembly on trash to the Upper and Middle School was deemed a success, they modified their initial presentation for it to be easier for younger grades to understand and presented it to the fourth graders, where the response was unbelievably positive. “And when we gave the presentation to the fourth graders, they were so engaged, everyone was raising their hands…It seemed like they were very excited,” Anna shared. The Green Guerrillas plan to present to the other Lower School grades, too. They hope that educating students about sustainability from a young age will help to foster curiosity and concern for the environment.

The Green Guerillas are planning to continue encouraging Westridge students to be more sustainable with future clothing and book swaps, and through celebrating Earth Week. Anna said, “The fact of the matter is that we have one Earth, and we’ve already destroyed it enough.” She continued: “I think even if there’s just a small group of people that cares about the environment, that’s enough to help.”