Spring | 2015
Inside:
it High School Jesu est. 1963
President’s Newsletter
Announcing New Principal Hanson McClain Advisors Stadium Social Justice Summit Marauder News Summer programs Red & Gold Gala Athletics Hall of Fame
Dear Friends,
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ll of us are rightly concerned about the further consequences of the drought afflicting California and I am writing to assure our community that the Jesuit High School administration and staff has taken, and is taking, measures intended to minimize the use of water on our campus. As of this date, Jesuit High School has already met the water reduction expectations of our local water district. However, I do expect that further reductions in our water use will be required by the end of the summer.
Going forward, our superb groundskeepers will begin replacing water intensive plants with drought tolerant ones. You will first notice changes in planters and borders around campus buildings. Areas that do not support student activity will be allowed to go fallow. We are looking to reduce lawns but we also understand that lawns, trees and hedges serve more than just decorative purposes. Some have noted that the grounds and fields are being watered and we have permission to do so. The lawns and quads where students gather will be maintained. Fields, particularly when in season, will be maintained. Trees will be watered, particularly in parking lots, which are required by county ordinance to create shade, minimizing the effects of heat, and/ or to insulate neighbors from noise and create privacy. While the drought has helped focus our efforts to lessen our impact upon the environment, our school community
has already undertaken a number of environmental initiatives intended to better steward our resources and lessen our impact upon the environment: We have installed more than 2,200 photovoltaic solar panels on the roofs of our buildings which generate as much as 48% of the electricity consumed at Jesuit High School. We have undertaken a lighting efficiency program and have replaced all of the exterior lighting with LED technology. (Those fixtures that have not been switched out are actually owned by SMUD.) We are slowly replacing lighting inside as well, most recently by installing LED fixtures in the cafeteria. We are replacing water fountains with water stations which make it easy to fill reusable water bottles. The Phelan Chapel was built with sustainable products. It has the most efficient heating and cooling system available on the market. LED lighting was installed throughout the building. The landscaping was designed to incorporate drought-tolerant grasses and plants while the use of landscaping bark was intended to minimize the use of sod. Where sod was installed, it is sustained by an efficient irrigation system.
The stadium renovation project is timely as well. With the new bleachers, track, and field, we are removing as much as 100,000 square feet of grass from the stadium footprint. We have also chosen turf and infill that promises to be cooler than what is found typically in other area stadiums. Not only will the field be a better playing surface for our student-athletes, it will not require the use of water to cool the field prior to play.
We will be installing two Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers this summer in parking spaces near the Student Athletic Center and may install more as the need arises.
Each of us will be required to adapt to the effects of the drought and our personal decisions, whether at Jesuit or at home, will make a sustainable difference going forward. We should do so, not only because of the drought but because we are all called to care for God’s creation. As the Jesuit Fathers of the 35th General Congregation noted, Care of the environment affects the quality of our relationships with God, with other human beings, and with creation itself. It touches the core of our faith in and our love for God, ‘from whom we come and towards whom we are journeying.’ (Decree 3, Challenges to our Mission Today, 2008)
Campus-wide management of our water usage is not inexpensive. Change may be incremental and, in some cases, hardly noticeable. We will continue to improve our efficiencies wisely with an eye to making decisions that will be good not only in the present moment but also for decades to come. And let us pray for rain in the valley and snow in the Sierra! With Warmest Regards,
Fr. David J. Suwalsky, S.J. President
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