On Monday 4 August 2025, Western Spring College held their annual Green Jam Programme in the Western Springs Garden Community Hall aimed at educating primary, intermediate, and secondary students about the current state of our environment as well as ways we can work together to improve it.
Mrs Bracey, along with seven senior students from Sancta Maria College attended the programme from 9am to 3pm, attending three workshops each. This included ‘Deconstruction’ – a hands-on workshop on fashion zipper waste management; ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ – an educational session on making better compost systems to regenerate local soils, and ‘Bird Counting’ – a good way to end off the programme and learn more about our native birds.
We were also granted the opportunity to listen to Christine Wang, Manager of MPHS Community Trust Waiōrea. She is a strong advocate for bringing community together through education surrounding zero-waste and sustainable living. Christine explained that there are many ways people can contribute to the zero-waste programme, such as buying less and choosing well, reusing, swapping or upcycling, and simple volunteer work like assisting in an op shop. In doing so, more community centres can be used and opened for proper waste management other than the 14 branches currently open.
The workshops and discussions held in this event enabled the students to see and think about what they can do to improve our environment. It showed us that a simple task of volunteering in one-day events we can still make a change, and step by step we can create a more healthy, lasting environment for us and future generations. This was also emphasised during the panel session at the end of the programme, with engineers, chemists, psychologists, and writers explaining to the students about their environmental involvement. They explained how youth can speak for the community to the council and learn more about what is happening in New Zealand. Students were then able to ask their own questions, which pathways to environmental programmes.
This was an amazing event, and we would like to thank Mrs Bracey for organising our trip. Taking this inspiration and the new ideas from this programme, we will work together to improve our community’s space.
