This week marks Laudato Si’ Week (17-24 May), inviting us to move from hope to action. The theme of 2026 is: “one action, one week, one global response.” By reducing waste and sorting it correctly, we all work towards responding to the Cry of the Earth, our common home.
18 May 2026
Lumen Christi College marks Laudato Si’ Week
Lumen Christi College in Martin have been living out the values of Laudato Si’ in a number of ways. The College’s Year 12s have taken part in a Spogomi competition. Spogomi is a competitive litter picking sport originated in Japan and has since grown into an international movement, complete with its own World Cup event.
Students had 10 minutes to collect as much litter as possible, followed by 10 minutes to sort and weigh it. Although the school looked really clean in the morning before the event, there was clearly still plenty of litter, with students collecting an impressive 7.96 kilograms in just 10 minutes. The winning House received points towards The College’s Cartoni Cup House competition.
Meanwhile, student volunteers have demonstrated their commitment
to caring for our common home by helping to sort through the College’s general waste, identifying how much and what kind of waste is being disposed by students. The audit is the first step towards Lumen Christi becoming accredited as a WasteSorted School.
The College’s staff also joined students for ‘Wear It Wild’, a fundraiser for the World Wildlife Fund. For a gold coin donation, students and staff had the option of dressing up in an animal costume, wear animal themed items or green accessories.
Stalls were set up with animal temporary tattoos, animal face painting and a photo booth. This event was designed and implemented by the College’s Stewardship Captains.
Lumen Christi’s Stewardship Captains Teliah and Hadiya said:
“Becoming a stewardship captain was a goal of mine because it gave me the opportunity to embed sustainability into normal school life; creating a norm rather than a forced approach.
“Events such as “Wear it Wild” was the first initiative we have ever ran and it started because it gave the cohort an opportunity to come together to celebrate and promote WWF and the different ways human activity impacts our global life. These events encourage students to learn more about the impact they leave and do so in an engaging and accessible way.”
“The opportunity to become a Stewardship Captain at Lumen is an amazing potential, for myself, my fellow Stewardship Captain and for the school in general. With the new opportunity presented to me, it inspired me to give hand towards making our school a more sustainable and resourceful community.
“It helped open up the school’s Sustainability Stewards team inspired by Pope Francis’, Laudato Si, a great base on where students can be introduced to the Catholic Social Teaching of Stewardship (Care for our Common Home). Along with many in-school activities such as the waste audit that helped provide information on how we as a school can manage waste and recycling, along with the Wear Wild Day as an fun and compelling occasion to bring awareness and fundraising towards World Earth Hour.”