Carving for a Cause: Environmental Board Hosts Educational Pumpkin Carving

By Audrey Tugade, Staff Writer

    Leadership’s Environmental Board transformed room 314 into a vibrant pumpkin patch, inviting students to express their creativity while carving Jack-O-Lanterns.

   At lunch on Wednesday, Oct. 30, the Environmental Board hosted a pumpkin carving event to give students the opportunity to come together for a Halloween activity while also learning about the importance of being environmentally aware and saving food waste. 

   The leadership classroom was set up with tables covered in recyclable parchment paper. The board intended the event to be both educational and fun for attendees. 

   “It’s a blend of fun and they also cleaned out the pumpkins yesterday cause they are going to cook the seeds and deliver them to people as a way to show you can reuse and eat a lot of what we have,” Activities Director Katherine Walton said. 

   The event created a loud, collaborative, and lively atmosphere with Halloween music and students chatting while carving unique designs. Leadership displayed the pumpkins outside in the frosh quad and posted the Jack-O-Lanterns on the Acalanes’ Instagram page where students and staff voted on their favorites.

   “I really enjoyed carving pumpkins with my friends. I learned that it is important to compost your pumpkin remains and not just throw them away normally,” frosh Kelsey Gunderson said.  

   Students learned how to utilize the entirety of the pumpkin in the process, emphasizing the importance of composting pumpkin scraps and collecting the seeds to roast.

    “[The event] is honestly fun… I think the seeds are what we are reusing because pumpkins are pretty wasteful in terms of what they do as Halloween decor, and this is just a chance to celebrate Halloween,” Walton said.