Local High Schoolers, ESPP Staffer Build Green Float
By Andy McGlashen
10/23/08
East Lansing High School used to spend about $750 per class on homecoming floats. But among the floats that came rolling down Burcham Drive in this fall’s parade, there was one with a much smaller price tag – roughly 50 bucks.
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ESPP staffer Marcy Heberer, an adviser to the junior class at ELHS, said the school has tried to be more socially and environmentally conscious in recent years. Instead of building a float for each class, the school now builds only two – one for freshmen and sophomores, another shared by juniors and seniors. They’ve donated the savings to charities.
But Heberer still wasn’t satisfied.
“I started thinking, Why spend any money on a float?” she said.
She pitched the idea of a “green float” to students, who she said “really embraced it.” To fit this year’s disco theme, the upperclassmen built their float almost entirely from recycled materials. With the help of MSU’s Office of Campus Sustainability, students gathered empty water bottles to form a skirt around the float. Flat, Black and Circular, a used record shop in East Lansing, donated old album covers for decoration. Foil from a previous year’s float was used to make a disco ball.
Clancey D’isa, junior class president at ELHS, said there was positive reaction to the float from the community and from students.
“We were really happy with it,” she said. “It was a lot easier than dealing with all the chicken wire and stuff. Plus, we could get really creative without feeling bad about wasting anything.”
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The students didn’t just avoid waste – by saving money on building materials, they were able to give $1,000 worth of non-perishable food to the Greater Lansing Food Bank.
Heberer said this year’s green float could be the beginning of a trend at ELHS. “I think it could get to be competitive this way,” she said. “Who can be cheapest and make the wackiest stuff?”
Andy McGlashen is the news writer for ESPP. He can be reached at mcglash3@msu.edu
