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Care for Creation
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Students in Mrs. Fenker’s AP Environmental Science Class built ecocolumns to model self-sustaining ecosystems. Senior Caitlin Bergevin (left) took a measurement while Adarsh Ambati, Ava Casto, and Aspen Bain watched.
Lessons in Environmental Preservation and Stewardship
By Katie Helland - Director of Communications
Senior Caitlin Bergevin took notes as her science teacher, Mrs. Janet Fenker, measured the dissolved oxygen levels of the water where a tiny fish swam at the bottom of an ecocolumn. The middle level of the column was filled with sand. On top of that, a healthy plant spilled over the edges of a recycled plastic bottle. In this system, the nutrients cycled through several layers, keeping the plant at the top and the fish at the bottom alive, and creating a self-sustaining ecosystem.
“I like how we get to actually care for the plant and the fish,” Bergevin said. “It just allows us to really experiment with the things we are learning and make them more tangible.”
Bergevin and the other members of her lab group, including seniors Adarsh Ambati, Aspen Bain, and Ava Casto, were working on ecocolumns as part of their AP Environmental Science Class. In science and religion classes across campus, students are putting the Catholic social justice teaching “Care for Creation” into action. Bergevin and her classmates took this message literally as they kept fish, worms, and sprouts alive. For Bergevin — and many Monarchs on campus — taking care of the environment is a calling for their generation.
“Once we get to learn all the science behind what’s happening to the environment, then we can push for that
in an advocacy project or different legislation,” Bergevin said. “Understanding something is the first step to trying
to fix a problem.”
Just a few buildings over, in Mrs. Lauren Matusich’s Ethics, Cuture, and Justice: Appalachia class, looking at how human actions impact the environment is part of the course. The Ethics, Culture, and Justice classes look at the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching — including “Care for Creation” and “Life and Dignity of the Human Person” — and explore them in the context of a region, such as California, West Virginia, and international destinations like India, Central America, and South Africa. The juniors in Mrs. Matusich’s class study the impact of coal mining in the Appalachian Mountains on people and the planet.
“Appalachia is one of the most biodiverse regions of the
world,” Mrs. Matusich said.
The region is also home to coal extraction, a process that leaves miners with black lung disease and destroys the environment. The course looks at rural poverty and public health, culminating in a 11-day trip to West Virginia, where Monarchs see the things that they’ve been talking about in class. Mrs. Matusich talks about “Care for Creation,” and how humans are called to be in relationship with all of God’s creation.
“The starting point is the notion that all creation is
sacred,” Mrs. Matusich said. “And God dwells within all
creation. Everything is an opportunity to encounter God. That’s the whole sacramentality of creation. We can experience God.”
It’s a topic Mrs. Matusich also explores with seniors in her Ethics, Justice, and the Environment class, which covers scientific topics, like biodiversity and climate change, as well as the correlation between human slavery and ecocide, and Franciscan Spirtuality of the Earth. Students learn to take scientific information and analyze it ethically, then reflect deeper spiritually.
When senior Umaya Loving (front) was four years old, her family moved to the jungle in Belize, where she developed a deep respect for biodiversity and nature. She is now part of Mrs. Matusich’s Ethics, Justice, and the Environment class. “What are we trying to do?,” Mrs. Matusich asked. “The
goal is developing a deep appreciation and gratitude for nature that will move us to make ethical choices about how we move forward to address the various environmental crises that we’ve created by failing to care for creation.”
For students like senior Umaya Loving, the class has been a chance to reflect on her place in the world. When Loving was 4 years old, her family moved to Belize, where they lived in an earth house in the middle of the jungle.
“The earth is our home, and we live on the resources that the natural world provides, which is why it is so incredibly important to fundamentally respect, appreciate, and
protect the planet,” Loving said. “Ethics, Justice, and the
Environment with Mrs. Matusich is an inspiring and authentic class. It’s teaching us the important things we need to know in order to do our part to help this fight against climate change.”
“ From a Catholic perspective, we have a vision of hope. It’s the belief that things can be different, and we can make a difference. ”
Mrs. Lauren Matusich
Not far away, in science classes, Monarchs are talking about “permaculture,” or care for the earth and its people, and the importance of using a fair share of resources. It’s a concept Mrs. Janet Fenker covers in her AP Environmental Science class, where students use what they know about biology, geography, and chemistry to look at case studies in the real world.
Permaculture is also taught in Mrs. Fenker’s Feeding the Future class, a semester-long science elective offered to seniors. The class covers issues in our current agricultural system, as well as what students can do to make things better. Monarchs also look at ways to maintain healthy soil and water and alternatives to the pesticides, which control insects but also harm farmworkers and wildlife.
“The focus on the environment in this class is that we need to feed a lot more people,” Mrs. Fenker said. “The way in which we’ve done that in the past is not sustainable.”
As part of class, Monarchs get their hands dirty, literally. Each student will study the development of corn, beans, radish, and peas, as well as various sprouts, such as kale, arugula, broccoli, and chard, which are ready to eat in under two weeks.
“Students are excited about growing things!”
Mrs. Fenker said.
Monarchs also learn about more sustainable and humane ways to raise animals for meat. Then, they study alternative sources of protein, including bugs. An insect uses less natural resources
After noticing the ecocolumns created by classmates were often unstable, senior Kyle Hagerty built stands. He used CAD software to develop a prototype, then built the product for all of Mrs. Fenker’s classes.
They’re learning how to grow things without hurting the environment. It gives them time to observe interactions in nature and appreciate the jobs of the organisms that are there.
Mrs. Janet Fenker
than a steer and can be used to feed people around the world, providing humans with much needed protein. Mrs. Fenker lets her students sample banana bread and brownies made with cricket powder, as well as chocolate covered crickets and mealworms.
“The students love these!” Mrs. Fenker said. “The chocolate
takes over and they just get the crunch from the bug. They are a bit leary of the mealworms, but they’re combined with coconut and chocolate.”
It’s not just in the classroom that students are learning. More than five years ago, the school started a garden with the help of the Nourishing Earth Club and detention students. Today, the garden is run by Mrs. Fenker, Mr. Mike Targgart, and the Garden Culture Club with help from Campus Ministry’s Cornerstone youth group. This summer, that garden produced more than 200 pounds of food, which went to West Valley Community Services to feed low-income or homeless families living in West San Jose, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga. Today, the garden is home to tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, onions, potatoes, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, pomegranates, melons, apples, persimmons, figs, oranges, and clementines.
“Everything in the garden is organic,” Mrs. Fenker said.
“They’re learning how to grow things without hurting the environment. It gives them time to observe interactions in nature and appreciate the jobs of the organisms that are there.”
This past summer, more than 200 pounds of produce from the school’s garden went to West Valley Community Services. The nonprofit provides food to low-income families living in West San Jose, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga.
During Freshman Day of Service, these Monarchs spent time working in the school garden. Each year, incoming students spend a day serving their community together. New friendships are formed and students share their gifts of time and talent with others.
An important part of a healthy garden is pollinators and students get to know the local bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds who make it possible to grow food on campus. Recently, members of the Garden Culture Club led Cornerstone students in harvesting fruits and vegetables, teaching them how to know when each food is ripe and where to harvest so the plant can continue to grow. The food went to West Valley Community Services where it will help sustain families who need food to put on the table.
For students on campus, learning how things grow and some of the ethical issues surrounding resource management is intertwined. Caring for God’s creation isn’t something they approach from just an academic lens in their science classes. It’s something they’re exploring on an ethical level as they grow organic produce in the school garden, see mountaintop removal in West Virginia, or talk with farmworkers impacted by pesticides before advocating for better laws at the state capitol. Solving environmental issues is something some Monarchs will spend their whole lives doing as lawyers, scientists, and advocates. Mrs. Matusich hopes her students are able to wake up each morning with a sense of gratitude for God’s creation and that they’ll “enter their day walking gently,” mindful of the decisions they can make to help other people and all of creation.
“The future depends on them,” Mrs. Matusich said.
“Generations before them have left them a tremendous burden… From a Catholic perspective, we have a vision of hope. It’s the belief that things can be different, and we can make a difference.” MEET A MONARCH: Adarsh Ambati ’22
Senior Adarsh Ambati is an inventor and environmental superstar. Over the years he has been featured in magazines and newspapers for his work to protect the planet. As a sophomore, he invented an affordable sprinkler system that reduces runoff in local communities. More recently, he created a noninvasive way to test amphibians for a life-threatening fungus.
“In college, I plan on studying ecology and environmental science,” Ambati said. “My hope is through research and innovation, I can discover and innovate technologies to help preserve our environment for many generations to come.”
Last year, Ambati won the International Eco-Hero Innovator Award from Action for Nature and was one of five finalists from across the world for the prestigious WIN-WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Youth Award. This year, he was named a Davidson Fellow and won the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, awards that both come with $10,000 scholarships.
At the heart of all Ambati does, is a passion to keep the planet green. Ambati is president of the school’s Green Team, which creates campaigns on various environmental topics, hosts guest speakers, and produces educational videos to share with the school community during morning announcements.
“I joined the Green Team because I wanted to learn more about environmentalism within the Mitty community, but I soon realized that I also had the amazing opportunity to share and dispense my own green tips and strategies,” he said.
In his free time, Ambati also runs Gro-STEMs, a group of high school students who teach science classes at homeless shelters and libraries across the Bay Area. To raise money for supplies, Ambati sells succulents.
“Today, massive problems ranging from water shortage to climate change threaten the environment and, indirectly, all life on the planet,” he said. “Youth especially should have a vested interest in environmentalism as the destruction of the environment will affect our generation the most. If we as youth choose to ignore the problem, it will only magnify until it can no longer be solved.”
