ABRHS seniors, Rychlik and Chantal Raguin are asking their peers to join the "Get On Tap" movement in order to reduce the school district’s reliance on bottled water.
The two will host a series of events promoting the use of local water in the regional school district.
"Tapped" (2009) Documentary Screening taking place on Monday, April 10, at 7 p.m, in the ABRHS cafeteria, located at 36 Charter Road in Acton.
The idea to ban plastic water bottles in the school district was conceived by Rychlik and Raguin almost a year ago, but after researching more about how to actualize change, the girls thought the significant undertaking would be more appropriate for their senior project.
Rychlik and Raguin are promoting policy change and community-wide education around banning plastic water bottles to help save the environment.
"In general, it was really well received, I think primarily because we began the presentation with the donation of a reusable water bottle filler for the junior high," said Rychlik, noting they received a $1,000 grant from The U-Project through Acton’s Danny’s Place Youth Services (DPYS).
They sort of adopted it as a project now," said Rychlik, noting now that the policy is out of her and Raguin’s hands, they’re focusing on the promotional week to help the community transition from bottled water to tap water.
Concord’s ban In 2012, Concord was successful in banning water bottles throughout town.
"Chantel and I are both really into environmental science and sustainability, so we’ve never been heavy users of plastic water bottles, but we’ve sort of rediscovered Concord’s ban against bottled water," said Rychlik, adding that she and Raguin researched Jill Appel, the lead activist for Concord On Tap, for guidance on launching a "Get On Tap" movement in Acton-Boxborough schools and also for Appel to be a guest speaker during the promotional week next month.
Working with your best friend about something you are passionate about, plus meeting all sorts of hard-working and inspiring people along the way — it doesn’t get much better that that," Raguin said.