Saint Anthony Catholic High School Reports on Compost and Garden

by Earth Angels 

Introduction

St. Anthony Catholic High School Earth Angels Environmental Club has partnered with Climate Reality Corps, San Antonio Composting Project, and Gardopia Gardens to create our high school's first compost beds and a school garden. The club is sponsored by Mrs. Jacqulyne Esteves (lead) and Ms. Ava Liebentritt who are both full time teachers at the St. Anthony High School Campus. We are proud to announce that as of March 2026, the garden and compost are fully functional and are integrated into our school lives. Service is a core mission here at St. Anthony, and students are encouraged to give back to their community every single day. The mission of service is at the center of our club and guides each project we decide to take part in.

According to the Environmental Protections Agency, it is estimated that of the U.S methane emissions, 17% of the emissions come directly from landfill waste.1 While our students cannot reform all carbon emissions from buildings nor automobiles, we felt that eliminating landfill waste could be a direct initiative for our community. Based on our projected data we can save almost 800lbs of waste each school year from the landfill. 1 ton of dry waste roughy produces 143 Lbs of methane. This initiative will not only halt methane emissions from our school but will educate students on how to compost. This The compost project was granted to us through Darshana Gupte, Chair of the San Antonio Climate Reality Chapter, and we were assisted by Christiana Rodgers from the San Antonio Composting Project. In December, students assembled four outdoor composting beds near the school garden. The leadership members of the club then performed a wasted audit to gauge the knowledge of composting among current students. 

See results below:

Students are now composting after each lunch and composting the waste that the cafeteria staff would normally throw away. On average, the cafeteria staff is composting 20 lbs a week of unused products.

We hope to use the compost in our school garden for future crops. This closed loop cycle will ensure the future of our garden, the health of students, and a growing connection with nature.

Financial Gain

Composting at our school can provide us with many financial benefits, including providing source of fertile soil that leads to less trash being thrown out, reducing the number of dumpsters that we need and in turn the cost of STA’s facilities. To elaborate, having fertile soil is necessary for the overall health of our garden. This leads to healthier foods that we can use in school lunches, decreasing the costs of purchasing ingredients, which is the main goal of this garden. Additionally, composting allows us to dispose of food scraps other than in our dumpsters. Without the several pounds of food each day, we may be able to rent fewer dumpsters, which would save us a lot of money. Also, besides the many positive environmental aspects, having a garden is also something that would attract many people to our school, which would subsequently increase our enrollment and our financial gain.

The Garden

The growth of the garden will bring a green atmosphere to SACHS. We could have a cooler and more beautiful area instead of a blank space just with grass. By growing the garden, we brought an experience about a sustainable non-profit business from SACHS to everybody. We apply what we learn in real life. This project is a symbol of environmental sustainability in the STA community.

Having a garden adds to the St. Anthony Catholic High School experience, allowing us to be better stewards of the Earth. It ensures that we can give back to the environment in the way that it gives to us. By giving us easy ways to waste and reuse food scraps, we can be more efficient with the resources that we use. This wouldn’t be possible without our generous donors, Climate Reality Project, and Gardopia Gardens. As a Catholic high school, we believe that God’s creation is to be protected. Therefore, it is our duty to do the most we can to ensure that our environment is being cared for. Our solution is to develop a bountiful garden that continues the longevity of our mission as a catholic community.

Educational advantages

One of the more common things that some schools lack is teaching valuable life skills. St. Anthony Catholic High School is able to provide at least three of these through our garden. The first educational value aligns with one of our core values. Service. The SACHS garden was brought into reality by our own students. We have put our time and effort into this garden, just as our school teaches us to always do. Another educational advantage has to do with our students having an interest in the environment they live in. If our students are more educated about the environment, they will be able to inform their peers. An educated student body is a more active student body who will want to create change in their community. The final educational  advantage that our garden supplies us with is the beauty of nature. As a Catholic school, we want our students to recognize the beauty of God’s creations and this garden is a prime example of that. Our SACHS garden provides us with so many benefits as shown in this report which is why it means so much to us, our students, and those we work with.

Saint Anthony Catholic High School has been featured in Telemundo: https://www.telemundosanantonio.com/video/noticias/local/pequenas-lombrices-una-gran-mision-jovenes-transforman-residuos-en-vida/2493433/

1 https://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-information-about-landfill-gas