AGHS AP Environmental students have spent the last few weeks repurposing waste items into new creations.

“They did just finish their AP tests and they’ve been working really hard, so I felt like they needed and brain break and they needed kind of a creative outlet and to apply some of the stuff that we’ve learned,” Kaizen said. “So we were taking waste product and things that would typically maybe be deemed ugly or nasty and trying to make something beautiful and find new purpose for them.”

Students have been turning trash into art, as well as practical items, such as planters or candles.

“This is a combination of two projects, this is the trash to treasure and the upcycle contest for my AP Environmental science project,” Kaizen said.

On Friday, May 20th, students displayed their artworks.

“We’re doing a gallery walk so they can showcase and bring awareness to stuff that we’ve learned in this class because some of them are definitely environmentally friendly or have a theme to them,” Kaizen said.

Preston Nguyen

“I made a kiwi bird… This is actually my favorite type of bird, I think they’re really cool.”

Nguyen went on to explain the creative process.

“For the main body I used a softball, and for the head I used a tennis ball. To keep it together I’ve been using hot glue. For the fur I used an old paper bag.”

Nguyen’s favorite part of the project was how a little creativity can transform worthless items.

“When you look at the items before, it doesn’t look like anything, but afterward I really liked how it looked.”

Mia Baldwin

“[I made] a model of a cow that explodes blood.”

Baldwin’s cow is representative of the horror of concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFO’s. 

“[I was inspired by] the meat industry.”

Baldwin was able to portray a powerful message with just a few items.

“A plastic water bottle, cardboard, and a balloon.”

Carson Spoo

“I made a sperm whale.”

This was a passion project for Spoo.

“Sperm whales are just the coolest animal. First of all, they go down there… and fight those giant colossal squids. Conceptually, that’s just crazy. They’re also the loudest animal in the world. Their calls reach 260 decibels. Decibels are exponential so 260 is like ridiculous.”

Spoo gathered trash from various sources to create his Frankenstein.

“I made it out of these two plastic litter box things that Ms. Kaizen gave me and then I flipped them over and I superglued them together. Then I took this orange cone thingy… and I put it on the back and I cut a hole in it. Out of cardboard, I made the fluke of the whale, and then I made the mouth of a plastic bottle. The fins were just gonna be the handle of the litter box things.”

Unfortunately, there were some unexpected obstacles.

“My favorite part of the project was coming back and seeing that some bird, while [the whale] was sitting out there during second period, decided to rip off both the fins, and then poop on it, and then I had to repair it really quickly.”