By Lois Rogers | Correspondent

When Toms River’s Donovan Catholic launched its innovative “STREAM WEEK” in November, the aim was to “do something beautiful for the earth” by reducing the waste stream one plastic bottle at a time.

And as the second STREAM Week began to unfold March 6, it was abundantly clear that the students had succeeded in that mission. The number of plastic bottles that turned up in recycling bins fashioned, remarkably enough, out of plastic bottles – was seriously down.

On March 7, when the bottles collected more than five days from the cafeteria were counted, math teacher Kathy Lynch calculated that 351 fewer bottles – 1,124 – would be headed for the recycling stream. The same time frame in November had seen 1,475 bottles making the journey.

After taking the count, students talked about how the overall effect of STREAM Week resulted in many monitoring the quality of plastic containers in their own homes as well as in the school cafeteria. In the latter case, they had been instrumental in spotting plastic containers with high levels of BPA – an industrial chemical – replaced with safe wrappers.

Junior Shannon Tierney was one of many students who replaced plastic water bottles with stainless steel in order to cut down on the waste stream. Tierney shared that her family has changed from water in plastic bottles to a filtered water system.

“STREAM Week” is geared toward expanding the vision of the popular STEM curriculum – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – by including art and religion in the interdisciplinary, applied approach.

In the art room, the screens of lap tops captured the work of contemporary artists who create sculptures and installations with plastic and other found pieces they harvested from along the shore line.

Religion classes throughout the week focused on the Catholic social teaching principals of Caring for the earth as they relate to Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si – “On Care for Our Common Home.”

Mary Beth De Blasio, who teaches religion and is the director of campus ministry, shared that the emphasis on the encyclical was especially exciting.

“The juniors and seniors have read the entire document,” said De Blasio, who added that the students are meeting in small discussion groups where they discuss chapters of the document and “come up with challenging ideas on how to live” with more sensitivity to the environment.

“Most teens wouldn’t read a whole (encyclical),” she said. STREAM Week offered “a way to introduce a Church document” in a way that teens can relate to De Blasio said.

One goal of the small group meetings is to make posters which illustrate how teens can “live the chapters” in their own life.

An example of that goal can be found not only in the decrease in soda bottles, but in changes in packaging in the cafeteria that came about as a result of the November STREAM Week.

Health teacher Suzanne Oliver said her students focused on the codes indicating what containers were high in BPA – a chemical considered to pose health risks – and those that were BPA free.

Oliver said her freshman students “studied the recycling codes and realized some sandwiches and desserts were packaged in materials that were high numbers of BPAs. The students brought it to the administration,” which brought it to the cafeteria and supervisors there contacted the supplier and the containers were changed.

The students carried the knowledge home, said Madeline Kinloch, director of curriculum, instruction and alumni relations. “It was a very teachable moment.”

Overall, STREAM Weeks are meeting their goal of combining teachable moments that combine all the disciplines with faith, said Kinloch, who added that a saying by St. Teresa of Calcutta lit the spark for the program.

“We had a special day here for Mother Teresa when she was canonized. Her request that everyone do something beautiful for God struck a chord. In planning the STREAM Week, we said, ‘let’s do something beautiful for the environment.’”