Mr. Lapish has been advising LEAF for a little over half of his teaching career. He makes a conscious effort to recycle inside and outside of school because he is passionate about a safe and healthy environment for all humans to live in.
Mr. Lapish
December 5, 2017
Even after 12 years of being the advisor of LEAF (the Libertyville Environmental Action Force), Mr. Dave Lapish, freshman lit honors and AP English language teacher, is still a part of the group. After the old sponsor, Ms. Karen Gibbs, retired, Mr. Lapish took over.
“I’ve always been environmentally conscious; I love nature. I’ve always been a recycling nerd, after recycling became a ‘thing’ in our culture. It was pretty easy for me to say, ‘Yes, that is something we should do,’ and when I decided to give up coaching tennis because it was taking too much time, I already had LEAF in mind,” he said.
In addition to recycling and caring for the environment on Mondays, Mr. Lapish lives a life dedicated to the well-being of the planet.
“When I moved into my new house, I decided to change the flower beds and some of the landscaping to add native plants. Natives are important because they encourage native species – insects and birds and all that – to continue to live here,” he said. “They are the ones best suited here and in an effort to keep the area as healthy as possible, it is better to have species that are native to the place you are. Besides that, I am just as conscious about recycling at home. I cut my own lawn with a non-electric push lawn mower, among other things.”
According to Mr. Lapish, the environment is a universal cause that everyone should support.
“Whatever your other beliefs may be, you live in the environment,” he said. “It is your home, so if you don’t care about it, you are doing something wrong.”