With information from: Lorenzo Steinacher (Upper School Student) and Tracey Bryan

Last April 18th, the Glassify club donated self-made centerpieces for the 10th-anniversary cocktail fundraiser of Reinserta, Saskia Niño de Rivera’s (‘06, ASF, alumnus)  non-profit organization that aims to reintegrate children born in prisons into society. The Glassify Club collected, cleaned, cut, and sanded 150 glass bottles obtained during the recyclathons, and then planted them as succulent gardens with cuttings from our green roof. Finally, they donated them to the Reinserta organization, in an effort to create a more just and peaceful world.

More about Reinserta here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EgYW-rBOk4

This was the first approach between ASF Students and Reinserta. Future plans include building a closer relationship that will give our School many opportunities to continue working together with sustainable and socially responsible objectives.

Why build a relationship with Reinserta?

Tracey Bryan, Steam Coordinator at ASF, explains that part of the mission of the Makerspace initiative is for students to have authentic audiences for their projects while teaching new skills and raising awareness of the issues in Mexico regarding jails and violence. 

“We also believe in Circular Education and are constantly looking for cross-divisional activities that involve multiple stakeholders. So when Saskia Niño de Rivera was on campus giving a talk to students I approached her to say hi –she was my student many years ago in LS– and I showed her the Makerspace and asked how we could support her organization”. 

As a first action, the Makerspace team decided that this time they could make 150 centerpieces for the 10th-anniversary cocktail fundraiser they are hosting this year. These centerpieces were created through the combination of repurposing glass and using plants from our green roof to create a usable product.

Who participated in the project? 

Makerspace US Interns, Friends of the Makerspace PA group (organized by Georgian Whiterall), US Glassify Club, PA Sustainability Committee (organized by José Alaniz), ASF Gardeners who helped us get the plants from the green roof and the soil, the Makerspace team: Gustavo Merkel, Giovana Rivadeneyra, and Tracey Bryan and around 60 US Students who helped sand bottles.

On Wednesday, April 19th, the planters will be used for Reinserta's Anniversary Cocktail Party to be hosted at the Papalote.