Environmental Club held its first meeting during PRIDE Time on Oct. 10. The club was started by juniors Sophia Garrison and Kassie Zimmer. 

“Sophie Garrison and I both were in the Astronomy Club last year during our sophomore year, and I approached her around the end of the school year because I wanted to keep the original idea, yet I wanted to add an aspect of the environment and issues to the previous club,” Zimmer said. 

The environment is an issue that Zimmer said she has been interested in since the second grade and so she felt strongly that it should be brought to the attention of others. 

To get the club started, Garrison and Zimmer went to Principal Martin Straub with their idea and were told that they needed to find someone to sponsor the club. 

“We went to Mr. [Dan] Dickerson, and he informed us that at the school he used to teach at had a very similar club called Ecology Club,” Zimmer said. “We all came to an agreement that we wanted to start this club, and we were very enthusiastic about it.” 

At the first meeting, they discussed topics, such as officers, community service projects and the possibility of going to watch a crane migration in Nebraska. 

“Some of the things Environmental Club hopes to complete in the future is to plant trees around Hays by gaining money through fundraisers,” Zimmer said. “Also, we will be holding competitions between the classes to see who has the most community hours for a prize at the end of the semester.” 

As the weather gets colder, the club plans on using the days where they cannot go outside to educated members on environmental issues in town and throughout the country. 

“I felt the first meeting went very well,” Zimmer said. “It went much better than I had originally thought, because I felt that fewer students would be interested in the idea, so I am very grateful for everyone who signed up.” 

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