Skyline Celebrates First Water Bottle Filling Station
Student advocacy and local grants helped make Skyline High School's first water bottle filling station a reality. On March 21, the school hosted a grand opening ceremony for the new filling station during lunch.
Representatives from the City of Sammamish, Sammamish Plateau Water and Cascade Water Alliance attended the event. The installation was made possible thanks to a $2,000 grant awarded by the Cascade Water Alliance.
Senior Rishi Hazra spearheaded outreach effort, with the support of fellow ASB officers and Principal Keith Hennig.
Hazra, who became passionate about environmentalism in eighth grade, says the cornerstone of many of his student government campaigns in high school has always centered around sustainability.
“Each year, I have been communicating with different groups ... about different initiatives we could engage in to reduce our carbon footprint, or water footprint and advance other forms of sustainability,” says Hazra.
“We’re seeing a change in the climate around us, especially as our globe starts to increase in temperature. We are reaching a point where there is no return.”
Hazra acknowledges that the fastest way to address climate change would be to start at the corporate or government level, but said he feels that kind of change is the most difficult to achieve.
“We need to act as communities as quickly as possible,” Hazra says. “If people have common value for advancing the welfare of everyone, for future and current generations, then the small steps all of us take, [such as] stopping the use of plastic water bottles and instead using reusable water bottles will drive the demand away from the unsustainable materials."
Students at the grand opening were invited to sign a sustainability pledge, in which participants would receive a reusable water bottle. Plans are in place to install another water bottle filling station.
Above, Hazra cuts the ribbon at the new water bottle filling station. Below, students distribute water bottles to those who sign the sustainability pledge.
- Student Voice