Some were small; others were giant. Regardless, the Great Pumpkin Drop Off produced a bumper crop.

Providence Day’s (PDS) two-day drop off of Halloween pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns for composting this week set a record - Jack Hudson estimates the school’s community contributed between 250 and 350 pumpkins. Typically, his club collects around 150. 

“This year, for whatever reason, we got more,” he says.

The Sustainability Club’s sixth annual Great Pumpkin Drop Off this week took in any pumpkin that was carved, damaged or beginning to rot. Any pumpkins that are still whole and undamaged are donated to The Bulb, which is the same place club members take garden produce, Mr. Hudson, the Upper School Sustainability Coordinator, says.

The Bulb provides fresh produce and health and wellness education to food insecure neighborhoods in Charlotte.

“Composting your pumpkins gets them off your porch before they dissolve into a gooey pile of mold,” Mr. Hudson says, “and it also avoids the harmful greenhouse gas emissions created by organic matter decomposing in landfills.”

The Upper School Sustainability Club is a service club made up of 9-12 graders. It’s the only service club that ninth graders can join from the start of the school year. The club roster has about 40 students who participate in projects and meetings.

“We think of ourselves as the environmental conscience of the school, and we focus on ways to have a positive environmental impact and encourage our community to do the same,” Mr. Hudson says. “For example, we do a lot with campus waste sorting, including related events like the E-Waste Drive, Great Pumpkin Drop Off, greenway trash pickups, helping to recycle PDS spirit wear that can't be re-sold, and helping clean and donate unclaimed water bottles in Lost & Found.

“In addition, the club works in Charger Gardens and has developed a pretty strong Lower School engagement curriculum that has club members going into almost every Lower School classroom at some point in the year for environmental sustainability lessons or activities.”

Senior Meha Khanna is a club leader.

“The club is a way of educating people on campus about how they can live their lives more sustainably,” Meha says. “We are important to the school because we fight for changes to make our campus more eco friendly and help students and faculty understand how they can shift their lifestyles for the sake of our planet.”

Meha continues: “Collecting pumpkins is one way we're showing people that there are small things they can do to lessen their carbon footprint. It eliminates so much waste that would otherwise just be trashed, and shows our community that they have the ability to contribute to the environment.”