Each year, the Science Club tests and perfects green cleaners for classroom use. Members also test air quality of the school and report the findings to the school community during morning announcements.
Testing for Ozone
Seventh Grade students made ozone test paper strips and then tested various sites around our school and around their homes. Results were shared with the school community on the morning announcements. (10/21)
Classroom Plants
Many of our classrooms have plants that students help to care for. We use our plants to teach about the benefits of increased humidity, decrease in carbon dioxide and natural air purification.
Healthy Eating Club
6th grade students are invited to participate in the Healthy Eating Club, which meets once a month during lunch. Each member brings a dish to share. We research why the food shared is healthy or how we can make our favorite dishes healthier. We also emphasize the benefits of using local produce.
Walk-a-Thon
Another great tradition at Mother Seton School is the annual Walk-a-Thon. We combine exercise and fresh air with fundraising to help those in need. Our students follow a 2-mile course that winds around the campus and our neighborhood. Each year, the proceeds raised are donated to a cause. Past recipients include the Sister Brenda Monahan Scholarship Fund, the Catoctin Pregnancy Center, a local alumnus battling cancer, and Daughters of Charity missions overseas.
Field Day
We always end our school year with fun and fellowship outside on the school grounds. Students enjoy friendly competition and teamwork while participating in field day games that promote exercise and being outdoors.
Grade 2 planted snap peas and lettuce to watch and learn how plants grow. They dyed the water red in one of the lettuce pots to see what happens, an important lesson about how plants absorb what we put into the ground.
Herb Garden
We have installed two raised-bed herb gardens in front of the school so that the entire community can help themselves to fresh herbs.
Learning Outside
We use our school grounds as outdoor classrooms whenever possible.
Grade 8 conducts an "Egg Drop", a physics experiment, with the help of our facilities staff. (6/25)
We try very hard to help our students assume responsible stewardship by donating items that can be used by others, not only as a way of helping those in need, but as a way to reuse items and reduce solid waste in landfills. Examples include:
Used Uniforms
Students are encouraged to donate school uniforms that no longer fit so that they can be reused. Uniforms that can no longer be used are donated to our neighbors, the Emmitsburg Glass Company, to be used as rags.
Pictured here are the uniform closets (10/2021).
Reusable Water Bottles and Refilling Stations
Each student was given a reusable water bottle to be refilled as needed at the water refilling stations.
As of October 8, 2025, we have saved 110,692 plastic, single use water bottles by using our water bottle refilling stations!
Tabs for Ronald McDonald House
Our entire school community participates in collecting tabs from aluminum cans for the Ronald McDonald program.
Our Worm Farm
Using our food scraps to help our plants rather than wasting them at Mother Seton School. Student volunteers collect food scraps at lunch and put them in the worm farm. Volunteers also clean out the farm in the spring and put the castings on our gardens.
Gross Right? Worms help decompose our food into nutrient-rich manure for plants to thrive.
Ink Cartridge Recycling
With assistance from our IT support, we recycle used ink and toner cartridges.
Our students are all aware of the rain barrels we have placed near the playground and our gardens. We use the collected rain to water our butterfly garden, the herb garden and classroom plants.
