On International Serene Day, Chaitanya Hiremath, the CEO of SEALOEarth (Serene Environment and Life on Earth) visited WA and went forest-bathing with a couple of english classes that wrote essays for his essay competition on Mar. 20. He came to WA during school hours, when they took walks around Westford.

SEALOEarth is an organization that aims to spread awareness about the responsibilities of people to take care of and love the earth. In addition to being the CEO of this organization, Hiremath is also a teacher at UMass Medical School, where he teaches physiology and engineering physics.

While the students went on this walk, they were advised to take breaks and look around at the trees and the wilderness. Students were also able connect with the earth by looking at the sky, leaves on the trees, and terrain of the trail. During the walk, Hiremath talked about the colors and how they correlated with one another.

Coming back from the nature walk, students were told to converse about how they felt and express their love for the earth by sharing it with other classmates. For many students, it was a relief that they got to take a break and appreciate the earth for the way it is. Others said it was a good way to learn how to take care of nature, keeping themselves and the earth healthy as well.

During the walk, students used a symbol in sign language that described the experience of the walk and how it related to caring for the earth. While talking about serenity, Hiremath explained how in sign language there weren’t any symbols for the word serene, so he combined the symbol for Earth and love, translating it into serenity.

When Hiremath started the SEALO project, he was on the school advisory council at Crisafulli Elementary School. After holding a discussion between students and staff over the variety of languages they spoke and the countries they were from, the school found that 26 different languages were spoken at the elementary school.

While the students and staff celebrated this diversity by hanging flags of countries in the school lobby, Hiremath designed a flag that looked like a clock, representing the diversity of the Earth. He started it off with humans and expanded to other species like insects or even trees. This was how Hiremath decided to start researching serenity, leading to the SEALO project.

“This planet earth belongs to everyone […] The unique thing about our earth is there is so much biodiversity, so since my background is in biophysics I designed the flag, which has all the living beings on it. Right from bacteria to trees to mushrooms” Hiremath said.