Woodgrove is making waves in the world of environmental science. Just months after the school was named a Virginia Naturally School for the 2024-25 school year, seniors DJ Bundick and Brooks Frandsen were chosen to represent all of Loudoun County at the Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions (FACS) Climate Crisis Forum on creating green schools for sustainable communities.
The event was FASC’s eighth annual Climate Crisis Forum, offering an opportunity for district leadership and students to connect about tackling the climate crisis and empowering students to make a difference. The forum included panel discussions with student climate activists and superintendents from five Northern Virginia counties, including Dr. Aaron Spence of LCPS.
Woodgrove’s environmental club co-sponsor, Ms. Amber Bartling, was asked to nominate students for the student panel. She nominated Frandsen and Bundick for their roles in Woodgrove’s Environmental Club, co-president and vice-president respectively, hoping that their experiences in the club would give them a unique perspective they could discuss at the forum.
Frandsen, one of the five students chosen to speak on the panel, discussed how school systems can support students in sustainability efforts, what kind of work Woodgrove’s Environmental Club is doing, and what sparked his interest in sustainability. “I hadn’t known about so many of these organizations and how much stuff was going on about sustainability in our area, so it was super cool to be able to see all these places and to also see the experiences of different students in counties around us,” Frandsen shared.
Bundick interacted with the various sustainability and climate change leaders at the summit. For him, one of the highlights of the forum was learning about grants Woodgrove can apply for to increase the school’s sustainability, including the chance to earn free solar panels and have professionals scout the campus for places to plant trees. “It was a really eye opening experience. Honestly, when I got there, I didn’t expect to learn the things that I did and hear the things that I heard,” he said.
The summit reflects the growing movement for environmental action in Northern Virginia as the area watches the impacts of climate change on our planet. Bartling explained, “It’s easy to overlook the effects of climate change and lack of sustainability in our area because we are less affected than other areas, like western North Carolina right now or the panhandle of Florida and the Gulf Coast. It was really reassuring to me, as someone who recognizes that and sometimes feels a little bit isolated out here in Western Loudoun in our sustainability efforts, to see all of the support from NOVA regional climate and sustainability leaders.”