The City of Santa Clarita donated 25 recycling containers to Golden Valley High School on Thursday.

The Student Task Force for Human Rights accepted the donation as a part of an expanded recycling program at Golden Valley High School, encouraging environmental awareness by providing students with the tools to jumpstart their own recycling program and become everyday heroes within their community, said City officials.

“The Student Task Force for Human Rights really spearheaded this project to expand the recycling program at Golden Valley High School,” said Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth.

Since 2012, the City of Santa Clarita and the William S. Hart District have partnered together to expand local bottles and cans recycling programs, aiming to meet the goals set by the city and state for diverting waste from landfills into recycling, according to Smyth.

“It’s never a surprise to me when we hear from our local school and our local students wanting to take a leadership role, whether it be in the environment or the task force of human rights,” said Smyth. “We’re already meeting and sharing from students on ways to make the city better, this community better, our state better. We’re proud to ‘sponsor’ if you will, the additional 25 recycle bins that will be placed here on campus to help keep this beautiful campus clean.”

Sal Frias, the principal of Golden Valley High School, was nothing but admiring of his students’ success.

“They’re being role models, they being ambassadors, they’re giving to other groups on campus so it really is a win-win,” said Frias. “Let’s use our heads and do the right thing. And this group of young adults will make sure we do it right, I’m very proud of them.”

Jade Aubuchon / KHTS News

Six students from the Student Taskforce Human Rights Watch accepted the donation on behalf of Golden Valley High School, including: Ana Talavera-Castañoli, Camilla Gil, Santiago Fernandez, Seth Bad Heart Bull, Nakya Higgins and Joshua Catu.

“I hope from joining this club that we would expand from the start of the environment and us as human beings and how we treat each other and how we treat our world because there is no other planet out there like ours…,” said 15-year-old Catu. “We don’t take care of it as we should and we don’t take care of ourselves as we should, so I really hope that we can help us to advance as human beings and as a civilization.”

Fernandez, a 17-year-old student, noted that although this might seem like a small step, it could have much greater impact.

“If we can change our school, then we can change somewhere else,” he said.

The teenagers encouraged their peers at other schools to step up and do their part with the hashtag #Whatsurexcuse, mentioning that even the smallest changes can make a difference.

“They do not have an excuse to not help their campus,” said Catu. “We’re doing it, they can do it.”

Next month, the City of Santa Clarita will be releasing the new Recycle Hero campaign, which will highlight local heroes that help the City in the fight to recycle right. The engaging campaign will help students and faculty take advantage of the new recycling bins and show how they recycle by using the hashtag #RecycleHeroSC on social media.

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