Mason Page is a 13-year-old seventh grader at Stuart Hall School for Boys. There, Page is the head of the recycling committee and is involved with Stuart Hall’s Round Table and student government.
Being the head of the recycling committee, Page is in charge of organizing the transportation of Stuart Hall’s recycle bins and suggests ideas to get the school motivated to recycle more items. He has helped raise funds for his class to raise awareness about the environment by organizing the sale of reusable shopping bags.
“I am proud that I began the sale of reusable shopping bags at Stuart Hall to raise awareness about the pollution caused by plastic bags in the environment,” says Page.
Page has also been very active around the community, including painting a home with volunteers from all over the country following Hurricane Katrina. He assisted the Junior League with his mother, Lisette Constantin, who received an invitation to help from a friend. People came from England and Canada to work all over the city and Page met many wonderful people.
“I also worked with a group from Ohio working for Abercrombie and Fitch,” Page says. “We gutted houses in Lakeview, including my grandparents’ house and my godfather’s mother’s house. I was very sad that my grandparents’ house was in the state that it was, but I also looked to the future when it would be renovated and better than ever.”
Working to help his grandparents’ house meant a lot to Page and his family. “When I was helping move trash out of my grandparents’ house I saw some of my late uncle’s glass blown pieces.” Page says, “When I saw how dirty and beat up they looked I thought, ‘What if they never look the same and are always messed up – we’ll never be able to get anything like them again.’ But when I hosed them off I saw them clean up and I felt so much better.”
This touching story helped Page find his true activism in and out of school, “I have gained a sense of community, cooperation and self satisfaction. It feels good to be a part of something bigger than yourself.”
Page has many other hobbies outside of his community volunteerism. He enjoys riding bikes, swimming, glassblowing and Brazilian ju jitsu. Because he’s still quite young, Page doesn’t know what he wants to do professionally, but he does want to work on community projects related to the improvement of New Orleans and the environment.
