Kaiser High School is no stranger to major art projects, with the many murals on campus further proving such. Take for instance, the mural at the Blackbox Theatre in downstairs G Building, the many murals along the stairways of A & C Buildings, and upstairs G Building, where the walls are covered in color and paint all coming together to create a variety of pictures, painted by various art students over multiple years. Following her semester-long absence, long-time biology and physical science teacher Ann Lake, referred to as Ms. Lake, by her students, is prompting others to collect any plastic caps they may be using and deliver them to her room in A301, where they will then be collected and put together to help create a biology-related art piece.
As of writing the article, Lake has already accumulated a variety of caps from various students. Caps of varying sizes and colors are allowed to be collected for the purposes of this project. Most of the submitted caps happen to be colored red, but there are also caps in other colors, mostly from expo markers and glue sticks. Additionally, caps from other sources, such as water bottles, are also accepted. Caps of unique shapes, such as those from pens or sharpies, are also allowed. The collection period is intended to last up until after Spring Break, where the caps will then be assembled into a set of varying organelles, which would then be placed inside of a cell. The finished product would be placed on the wall of Lake’s classroom for students and staff alike to see. When Lake was inquired regarding the purpose of the project, she replied with “making a science mural that shows how waste can be used to create.”
Being a biology teacher, Lake is no stranger to the dangers of waste, especially plastic pollution. Humans use plastic in their daily lives, and more often than not, tend to dispose of it improperly without thinking twice. Or worse, they litter and simply leave plastic lying around, where it can disrupt natural habitats or accumulate in spaces such as the ocean, resulting in worsened water pollution. This project takes the same bottle caps that could be littering the ocean and puts them into something that educates people about life; the very thing that pollution seems to impede with quite frequently. Currently, when the actual creation of the cell and its organelles occurs is still being determined, and whether or not this will be a schoolwide project or something exclusive to biology students also remains unannounced as of this publication.
The Cougar Community is much smaller than most people think. One thousand people may seem like a lot to someone, but when it’s compared to the eight billion people who populate Earth, the population of Kaiser High School falls to just about 0.0000125% of the world’s population. It’s a small group of people, and we all do our part to make sure that the community stays as happy and the land as healthy as it can be. Everyday, there are new ways of brightening someone’s mood or saving the world that are being created, some as simple as a little art project, where all you need to do is hand in a cap of your very own, and in doing so, help protect our planet.
