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“You Have to Act”: McLaughlin Sustainability Experience at Pottersville
Greg Waxberg

Through hands-on lessons with expert environmental educators from Raritan Headwaters and the Great Swamp Education Center, Grades 3 and 5 explored environmental sustainability in Pottersville in mid-May. The day was part of the Mary Jean McLaughlin P’78, ’80, ’83, ’84, GP’12, ’15, ’18 Endowed Lecture Series, established in 2023 by Julie and Dr. Mark McLaughlin ’83 in honor of the teaching legacy of Mary Jean McLaughlin, who taught Grade 4 at Pingry from 1978–2007.

The event had two major goals: to allow third- and fifth-grade students to build on their academic work this year—Grade 3 with water studies, and Grade 5 with their United Nations Sustainable Development Goals research projects—and to let them see how to connect with and care for the natural environment in New Jersey.

A quote from Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax figured in Dr. McLaughlin’s opening remarks: “. . . unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” He elaborated, based on wisdom from his mother: “You can’t just care. Caring is a thought. Thoughts help you figure out what you want, but actions get you what you want. You have to act. My mom’s spirit would tell you, ‘You’ve got to care, but you’ve got to act, too.’”

As the students embarked on their activities, they spent time in work stations:

Grade 3
- Making mosaics and planting seedlings to help decorate and bring the Pottersville Greenhouse to life, under the guidance of Rebecca Sullivan and Russell Christian. Mosaics were to be installed on the greenhouse’s exterior to bring color to the greenhouse garden, and seedlings were to be transplanted to the Pottersville Community Garden (once mature) and grown inside the greenhouse to create a classroom.

- Stream Mapping, led by Raritan Headwaters. Students could gather data and apply their mapping skills—specifically, students collected data about plants along the brook, as well as the current layout of the brook, so they can track erosion patterns over time. An overarching theme of third-grade learning has been to discover how water changes and impacts the land, the ways in which people live, and connections with living organisms.

Through the third-grade math-science-social studies teams’ summer curriculum work, students have participated in a variety of learning experiences throughout the school year that work toward making Pingry a River Friendly Certified School. These collective learning experiences, including this Stream Mapping activity at Pottersville, help students see how they can take meaningful action to protect New Jersey’s waters for everyone. Additionally, this data can be used in a deep map of Pottersville Spring Intensive.

- Water Dance: guided by Erin Strong, students rehearsed for their performance of The Story of Water, an original Grade 3 production. This theatrical story dance is part of The Global Water Dance, an international arts-for-change movement. The final performance was intended to be a culmination of their year-long study on how the performing arts can entertain and educate.

Grade 5
Students worked on an in-depth project to examine one of five United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (they could choose from Life Below Water, No Poverty, Quality Education, Climate Action, and Reduced Inequalities), and this culminated in their individual impact plans.

- Ecological Assessment: students did an ecological assessment of a part of the Pottersville Campus where they learned about the trees on campus and how they impact the environment, which plants are in the area and how they disperse their seeds, as well as which local and migratory birds call Pottersville home as they do some birding.

- Pond and Stream Study: students took samples from the pond and stream and used a dichotomous key to identify the macroinvertebrates in the water and catalog their findings to measure the health of the pond and stream.

- Gardening, led by Olivia Tandon: students practiced what it takes to prepare a garden for planting, learned more about composting, and learned how local gardens can help the environment.

Pictured: Dr. Mark McLaughlin ’83


Contact: Greg Waxberg ’96, Assistant Director of Communications, Writer/Editor