On April 22, Earth Day is celebrated around the world. At Ayala, there are some unnamed contributors working toward this goal of enriching the environment and promoting recycling. Every Friday, special education students sort and collect bottles from designated classrooms. Collections are done directly from each classroom’s recycling bin during the early periods.
The recycling program began years ago with all three of the special education teachers. Currently, Ms. Yi Eubank teaches several handicapped students aged 18- to 22-years-old. To this day, her special day class is the only one that continues to recycle due to the behavior challenges in other classes.
“Every Friday, we go to the designated classroom that requests for the pickup. We go and pick them up. We bring them over here, we sort it, and then we go and turn it in for cash. We use the cash for the end-of-the-year party and to pay for the special ed program,” Eubank said. “We also help recycle the green waste.”
For the seemingly undesirable fruits and vegetables, there is also a home. Students regularly leave behind unwanted apple slices or packaged carrots. Eubank’s students collect these into boxes throughout the week. At the end of the week, they deliver them to a staff member who has a pet farm, ensuring that nothing goes to waste.
“This is something that we do on our own. We’ve been doing this for many years, and with the help of the custodian, Michael Newton, he’ll bring stuff over too,” Eubank said.
Two years ago, Newton began helping the special education students pick up recycling, and he has been the only custodian doing so ever since.
“I just saw them pretty much picking up recycling. I just was like, ‘Hey, maybe I can help them out,’” Newton said. “On one day, I’ll get probably three bags, and then adding it all up, I get probably 20 bags full of recyclables. I pick up recycling every day, then I give it to them.”
Beyond collecting recyclables, the special education class works behind the school and helps out in many ways: helping teachers wash their laundry and towels, sharpening pencils on test days, and other small tasks that help develop their daily skills.
Around 2018 to 2019, school alumni with a passion for environmental engineering brought the special education students to plant in the D quad planters.

“She helped them plant everything, like the rosemary, the aloe, and lavender. She planted everything because she wanted it to be something that we could probably use. And she had our students help,” Eubank said.

Currently, the special ed program relies on the past teachers who decided to participate in it; they have not sent out new emails asking if teachers would like to opt in. However, they welcome donations similar to what physics teacher Scott Carter has done, by reaching them via email.

“Me and Daugherty did make a large donation to them recently, because we were cleaning out old equipment, throwing some things away, and a lot of the older robotics equipment was solid aluminum,” Carter said. “The reason I’ve donated to them regularly is because they use these funds to pay for their special ed program.”

The theme for Earth Day 2025 is “Our Power, Our Planet.” There are many unnamed contributors who are helping the planet by recycling and reducing unnecessary waste. It’s time for you to join this initiative.“We as a campus, need to become more serious about where we’re throwing things aways,” Carter said. “It’d be nice to spread the word again and see how many teachers want to participate.”