Student Volunteer Days in Jena Ost and Winzerla

As in previous years, we at the Jena Volunteer Agency again supported Jena schools in holding their student volunteer days.

O-Ton from Gemeinschaftsschule Wenigenjena:

"We organized our student volunteer day on 07 July 2022, which has become a tradition in the meantime. As we do every year, we wanted to do something for our environment, to set an example and at the same time to strengthen the environmental awareness of all of us. For the Environment Day, a total of 23 classes and about 500 pupils* aged 6-17 years from class 1 to class 11 searched different areas in and around the district Wenigenjena for trash - and that despite the persistent rainy weather. Thus, from Kunitz to hiking trails to Jenzig, the Jena East neighborhood and along the entire banks of the Saale River to the Lawn Mill Island in Paradiespark, various groups of schoolchildren were out and about to rid the environment of a wide variety of trash. Equipped with trash grabs, gloves and trash cans/bags from the Bürgerstiftung Jena, a lot of small and big trash could be collected within 2 hours. Surprisingly, despite the equally high level of commitment of the students, less garbage was found than in previous years, which was seen by all participants as a positive sign. Because, one can assume that less and less garbage gets into nature unnoticed and that many citizens of Jena already react attentively and sensitively to garbage pollution, which is basically to be seen as a positive development.

For this reason, on this Environment Day, some students have already decided to make a further contribution to our environment beyond collecting trash. With financial support from the community foundation, planting activities were carried out in two (external) gardens of the school. On the one hand, an insect island with insect-friendly plants was planted in our small garden. Second, planting a total of 12 fruit bushes in our large garden helped increase biodiversity on site."

Another student volunteer day took place on July 13 with the Ernst-Abbe-Gymnasium, about 580 students* participated in a large trash collection action in Winzerla.

This event was part of the Thuringia-wide Student Volunteer Day, sponsored by the Thuringia Volunteer Foundation.