Have you ever wanted to wander aimlessly through the woods? How about lighting the school’s parking lot on fire? More importantly, are you looking for an accepting and silly community of likeminded students? Then the Eco Club is the place for you!
Still not convinced? Then take a peak into the club by reading words from its president, secretary and one of its loyal club members–Raymond, Saniya and Mahela!
What does Eco Club do?
Mahela: We do a variety of stuff! It really depends on what the members want to do; like hikes, Watershed Festivals…
Raymond: She’s right, we do a variety of things related to ecology! We meet every Thursday in Mr. Ireland’s room–3313. We learn about cool bugs, we learn about nature… we look at birds; I say, “what’s that bird? It’s a pretty cool bird,” and then we look at it. And then we do that for hours on end.
No but actually, in Eco Club meetings we do tons of fun activities! This year we’ve already done Watershed Festivals, we’re gonna go on more hikes; and that’s just learning about ecology, how the world works, volunteering, tree planting… all sorts of stuff!
Saniya: We do tree planting, bird watching, a harvest education, hikes… a bunch of trips, which may count towards volunteer hours, as well as just learning more, having fun and connecting with other club members. Plus, Eco Club doesn’t necessarily have a limit or a specific time that you have to join by, so it’s a pretty open and inclusive club for everyone and anyone!
Why should people join Eco Club?
Mahela: We’ll put bugs on them.
Raymond: We’ll put a bug on them… Anyway there are tons of reasons why you should join; we have tons of volunteer opportunities, you get tons of hours, you know, obviously if you’re in grade 9 you should start working on your hours. It’s also fun volunteering opportunities! So it’s not just like, you’re gonna go interview three losers about Eco Club… It’s a great environment, you can meet lots of people! I joined Eco Club when I was in grade 9 and I met a lot of friends!
Saniya: Adding on to what Raymond said, it’s also a place where you can meet tons of other people, and connect with others who have the same interests as you. Plus it’s a very inclusive club and it’s just free for all! And if you’re uncomfortable with something at the club, like lets say you don’t want to touch something, you don’t want to do a specific thing, you’re not being forced to. It’s not like a, “you have to do this,” kind of club. If you want to do it, you can do it! And it’s tons of fun!
Do you have any upcoming events, trips or activities?
Raymond: We do have a few activities planned! One thing that I wanted to do was a hike. So, we’ve been planning our hike for a while. It’s probably going to be a hike somewhere during the weekend, where we go to a cool conservation area and just stare at bugs and stuff. Maybe in the near future there will be invasive species removal, tree planting, and clean-ups we can do anytime! Maybe next week, maybe two weeks…
I will say though, we’re gonna have way more activities planned for the second semester! That’s when it’s really nice to do a bunch of ecology stuff that you would think of typically, like tree planting. But there’s still tons of stuff, and there’s gonna be tons of opportunities!
How would you describe the community in Eco Club?
Raymond: They’re okay I guess… No, I like the guys there, they’re such cool people! It is pretty inclusive! And another thing, we don’t have formal sign-ups for things. I will say, I think a lot of our Eco Club members are just regulars that keep on coming every week. But we don’t have an official, “you’re in Eco Club.” People come, people leave… I think that definitely helps with the atmosphere that we’re building! I know there are other clubs that have sign-ups and stuff, and, “if you don’t come to the next meeting, we’re gonna kick you out of the club, you have enough strikes.”
Saniya: It’s awesome! And like Raymond said, there’s no quota to meet either. So you just stop by, do what you want… and it’s also open to suggestions! So if you really want to do something–unless it’s like, you need crazy money–we can probably do it! It’s fun, It’s accepting!
Mahela: A pretty accepting community. People you can connect with and talk about eco stuff with. It’s pretty casual.
What made you want to join the Eco Club?
Raymond: The first time I joined, I was with friends. Then my friends stopped coming, but it was okay because I made new friends! I became friends with the former president! And then eventually she was like, “hey, I do need someone to run the club after I’m gone…”
Saniya: I took environmental science in grade 10, and that’s how I learned of Eco Club–from Mr. Ireland. It’s such a nice room as well–like the atmosphere of it, plus the people in the room are so fun, and it’s just really nice! That’s how I learned of it, and if anyone is coming to J. Clarke I recommend you stop by the Grade 9 Day booth, or any other booths Eco Club might be hosting, because it shows you a little sneak peak into the club. We have a bunch of fun things–we have severed bones… bugs… mussels… fun stuff!
Mahela: I really just joined because I like animals, and it’s nice to be a part of something. I found out about it in 9th grade, but I didn’t join, because I was shy to join late. I joined in 10th grade, but now that I’m actually a part of it, I know it’s not bad to join late, it’s fine to join at any time! Whether you were a part of it before or not, because everyone is really accepting.
For the executives, what made you want to become an Eco Club executive?
Raymond: Eco Club was the first club I ran, so I guess I didn’t have any experience before. I definitely wanted to try! I also had no leadership roles whatsoever before Eco Club… But it’s been a year–last year I ran Eco Club as well. Definitely wasn’t as smooth as this year, I will say… I thought it would be a really cool decision to try to lead people and do fun stuff, plan fun things. And it has been! I’ve been planning a bunch of stuff! I will say, the best part is after an event or something, and it’s clear that everyone had a lot of fun with the stuff that we planned, that always makes me happy!
One hard thing, I will say, is reaching out to places and businesses and organizations to see if we can have volunteer opportunities for Eco Club.
Saniya: Umm, I got forced into this… No, but I just started bothering Raymond about things…
Raymond: She was like, almost doing my job for me! Maybe even more than that, now that I think about it…
Saniya: I thought it was fun, so I was like, “I’ll help you out!” I’m already doing a bunch of thingamajigs, might as well do this too! Like it’s the same thing, just a different club! And Eco Club is the best club in the school, and you should join it, if you’re not in it already. Then like, two days ago, Raymond was like,”You’re gonna be my secretary.”
Raymond: She was already doing the work of an executive, so I just told her, “you’re an executive now,” and nothing’s changed.
What are some of your favourite moments in this club?
Raymond: The last one was really fun–where we set stuff on fire. It was really good! We lost like, two members that day; usually we lose way, way more.
Mahela: Last year we did trash pick-up, and there were so many interesting finds that day, like a full bottle of whiskey, and used towels from the gym… Oh and we did pumpkin carving last week, and last year too! And we do the Coffeehouse event.
Saniya: Duffins Creek, and the Duffins Creek competition. That’s our staple.
Raymond: I’d say that’s one of our big, big things. It’s the big Watershed Festival–we had a mini one earlier this year, it was really fun! The big one, essentially what we do is two days volunteering, one day is a little competition challenge–I’m hoping to get way more people for the competition challenge, because it was really fun last year. But It was really bad–we only got two groups, and the other schools had, like, four. But what happens is, you get a group of four people–your friends–, and you go out to do a bunch of mini eco competitions. One of them was bird song identification–I like that one!
Saniya: There was archery! I have awful aim… there was like, you have to cross the river with a rope… like you’re gonna get soaked. And you have to run around. And you have to look at pictures of animals in the dirt, and you get to say from far away, “what’s that?” It was awesome!
Raymond: That was animal identification! Yeah, and the volunteering is the one that most people do. A bunch of schools from around Durham come to the Watershed, and they bring their kids and they teach us about stuff, and we teach them about stuff. It’s really open–you don’t have to know all that much about ecology and nature to volunteer for that one too, cause we teach you! Then you can teach them! And then you learn, and they learn… and everyone’s learning!
Saniya: For that one you can either go to Mr. Ireland’s friend, Phil, to the table so you can teach kids about a bunch of awesome things on the table–including snakeskin, bugs in amber, stuffed animals, plants… Or you can go hang out by the creek! You can teach the kids how to use nets, how to go in the water and catch crayfish, catch other things… I found a dead rat and half a lamprey…
Clearly, Eco Club is a really fun and exciting place to be! You meet a lot of people, learn new things, have opportunities to get volunteer hours, and explore our different ecosystems. This is a cool and interesting club that tries to make the environment better for everyone! So come on down to room 3313 and learn about nature with other people who love it just as much as you do.
Lastly, on behalf of Eye on the Storm we want to thank the president Raymond, secretary Saniya and one of its loyal club members, Mahela, for agreeing to be a part of the interview!
