The Evanston Township High School/District 202 Board of Education recognized a retiring board member and swore in the new board for the 2021-2022 school year on Monday in their first in-person meeting since the start of the pandemic.
Jude Laude, a member of the board since 2017, is retiring but plans to continue youth advocacy efforts in Evanston as director of programs at Youth Job Center.
Laude thanked the Evanston community and his colleagues and reflected on his time on the board.
“I grew up here as a first generation Haitian,” Laude said. “(My father) would sit at the kitchen table and say, ‘I’m not leaving you any money, but I’m gonna leave you my name,’ and one of the greatest honors for me in my life was when I ran for the board and I saw his name all over this town.”
With the goal of offsetting 50 percent of their school’s average annual paper consumption, three Evanston Township High School student activists are planning a campaign to plant at least 280 trees across Evanston and neighboring communities.
Aiming to set the project into motion April 24, the students are partnering with Tree-Plenish, a non-profit organization that has worked with over 85 schools across the country to encourage sustainability through community action. Mack’s Bike and Goods is sponsoring the project. Evanston community members can now purchase one or more trees (which will come as 18-24 inch saplings) at the project’s website.
ETHS senior and project co-leader Mia Houseworth said she hopes the campaign will launch more conversation about environmental issues in Evanston.