Among many changes for the 2024-2025 school year, the student organizations Environmental Club and Unplugged have merged to become a new club, currently called “Unplugged Environmental Club.”
Unplugged began in the 2021-2022 school year as a gardening club, aiming to encourage students to spend more time in nature and less time on their devices.
Senior and club president Amulya Girada started Unplugged with the purpose of helping students recognize the importance of taking care of their surroundings.
“It’s about being able to focus and be mindful while disconnecting from social media.” Girada said.
According to senior Libby Strahm, the Unplugged Environmental Club secretary, there weren’t enough members in either Environmental Club or Unplugged to sustain two separate organizations.
That’s why, at the end of last school year, the groups decided to merge.
“Both clubs didn’t have a lot of members,” Strahm said. “We thought [if] we wanted to be effective, we should combine.”
The two clubs shared similar goals, members and even the same faculty advisor, AP Environmental Science teacher, Amy Burian.
“The process was super simple,” Strahm said, “with Mrs. Burian in charge of both Unplugged and Environmental Club … it wasn’t difficult to combine the two clubs into one.”
Although both groups shared a primary focus on caring for the environment, their specific activities and achievements differed.
“Unplugged was specifically over gardening,” Strahm said, “but gardening has to do with the environment so we figured the clubs could join.”
Strahm and senior Luci Klingensmith, who is the co-president with Girada, joined the group from Environmental Club.
Environmental Club has a longstanding history at EHS and has collaborated with similar organizations from neighboring high schools.
In over a decade at EHS, Environmental Club organized a concert, sold T-shirts for Earth Day, held nature clean-up days and took trips to volunteer at the Watershed Nature Center.
In 2015, the club won a first place award for the Green Schools Quest competition. According to the Green Schools website, the competition challenges students to plan and implement low-cost sustainability projects for their school community.
According to Mrs. Burian, Environmental Club has a longstanding legacy at EHS. But in the last four years, membership and involvement in activities has gone down as Unplugged fills the role.
“[Unplugged] seemed a little bit more enthusiastic about doing things around the school and in the community,” said Mrs. Burian.
After the trees outside the front entrance were removed, Unplugged worked with groundskeepers and former principal Dr. Steve Stuart to install plant beds and flowers were the trees used to be.
When the large courtyard outside the cafeteria went under construction, Unplugged cleaned out the small courtyard in the commons to be used as additional seating for seniors during lunch.
With the clubs combined, Girada aims to implement Environmental Club’s goals while continuing her organization’s gardening roots.
“We just transplanted marigolds from the courtyard to the front of the school,” Girada said. “We even took some of those marigolds and made bouquets for some of the teachers.”
For years, Environmental Club has overseen recycling. Now, all members of the combined group share the responsibility.
Every Friday, the Unplugged Environmental Club picks up recycling from each bin in the building. They sort through the materials, discarding what isn’t recyclable and separating bottles and aluminum cans into separate bags to be directly recycled.
Additionally, they collect and donate aluminum soda tabs and plastic caps to a local Lions Club, a group that advocates for several environmental and humanitarian causes.
In the past, paper made the list of recyclable materials. But this year, the district is working with a new recycling service provider, and paper can no longer be recycled.
According to Mrs. Burian, Unplugged Environmental Club is remediating this problem by collecting and repurposing scrap paper.
Although they’re still deciding their long-term goals, the group has a few things in the works.
By the end of this school year, they’re planning to work with Health and Med Club (HOSA) to establish a composing system.
HOSA oversees Project 612 in the high school. There are several orange coolers scattered around the cafeteria that they use to collect and donate discarded, pre-packed food from the lunch lines.
According to The Edwardsville Intelligencer, Project 612, started in 2011, aims to reduce food waste in the school district by saving pre-packaged food items and donating them to local food pantries.
Strahm, who is also the president of HOSA, said Project 612 is valuable for the district, but there’s a need to keep other food from being wasted too.
“Right now, there’s no composting at school,” Strahm said. “We don’t have a lot of prepackaged food anymore, so composting would be an even better option.”
Mrs. Burian is working with HOSA facilitator and teacher Jennifer Weller to create the composting plan.
“The program that we found will provide bins and provide the pickup. The only problem is that we have to pay for the pickup,” Mrs. Burian said. “The hope is that we’ll be able to get together and create a fundraiser.”
Although this school year is fostering new changes for Unplugged Environmental Club, they’re continuing some traditions.
This winter, they’re hosting the annual Broken Holiday Lights Drive to collect and recycle damaged string lights.
According to Strahm, combining clubs and efforts strengthens their mission and presence in the school.
“We’re continuing to advocate for recycling and get the word out about it,” Strahm said. “We really do want students to help.”