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April 30, 2009
By Jonathan Pham
Members of the Environmental Club celebrated Earth Day with an after-school planting April 22. With permission from ASB and the administrators, they planted several annuals, or plants that germinate and flower for about one year, and then die. Ferns and hostas were planted between the 20’s and 30’s wings. Along with these, marigolds, African daisies, ice plants, cinerarias, and canna lilies were planted around campus. The environmental club had been preparing to plant during Earth Day about seven weeks prior.
“I felt that we needed to do this to give back to the Earth, because we take so much from it,” sophomore Environmental Club Secretary Lisa Ramie said.
Ramie took on the project and compiled a list of plants. The club had a day where they went around and people chose what they wanted to plant and where.
They decided to plant mainly in front of the Eggers Building, and in Memorial Grove, for these areas are irrigated with a sprinkler system. Other areas would require either drought resistant plants or routine watering.
Funding for Environmental Club activities comes from a $4,000 grant which was received and left behind by Diane Brumbaugh, the club’s advisor last year. The grant money has to be used on eco-friendly activities. The club’s current advisor is Steve Symeonides, who was there to help organize and run things during the event. About $250 from the grant was spent on the Earth Day planting. A majority of the grant is going into the Environmental Club’s garden, which they plan to build a mini greenhouse in. Currently, vegetables are grown in the garden.
The club also raises money through their recycling efforts. Most of the club’s activities have been after school recycling sessions. This is the first time this year the club has planted outside of the science wing garden.
“If we get positive feedback from our peers and the staff, we definitely want to do more planting around campus,” Ramie said.
As president of the Environmental Club next year, Ramie hopes to have bigger turnouts at events, such as Earth Day planting, and is going to make a bigger effort to bring people out next year. A bulletin for the Earth Day planting was only ran on the day of the planting, and there was a lack of posters around campus.
“Even though the turnout was bigger than lots of us expected, it would be even better next year to have lots of students come out,” Ramie said. “Maybe next year we could plant some trees, because those do even more good for the earth than just flowers.”
Despite the lack of advertising, about ten volunteers showed up.
“My friend Shelby told me about the earth day planting, and I’m really big on being green and Earth friendly so I really wanted to come out and help,” senior volunteer Tiffany Tu said. “I feel like it did help in a small way, and that we can all do small things to help out the earth.”
Ramie hopes to stir students’ interests with the approaching Ecology Fair, which the Environmental Club is preparing booths for.
“I feel like this whole ‘going green’ thing is more of a trend than a cause,” senior Environmental Club member Daniel Wong said. “People really need to start making an effort to learn about our planet.”
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