From washing cars to cleaning hiking trails and planting native prairies, the Environmental Club is involved in many activities within the community. They also clean up trash around the football field after home games, and they created a bird species sign that was posted on the Badger Hut Trail in downtown Potosi.
Environmental Club is one of the smaller clubs in the school, usually consisting of about 15 members. It was started sometime in the 2010s by a student named Elizabeth White. When Matt Eastlick was asked to be the advisor, he accepted it. “It gives me an opportunity to do other things outside of the classroom with my environmental interests,” Eastlick said. Before Mr. Eastlick was the advisor, Environmental Club mainly focused on trying to recycle items that may get thrown in the trash most of the time. Recently, Eastlick has tweaked the main focus of the club. “It wasn’t really my interest, so I started doing other things like field trips,” said Eastlick. “I wanted to expose students more to the natural areas and what makes our region so interesting.”
The Environmental Club does fundraisers to support the trips that they take. They learned how to handle, and then participated, in a controlled burn a few years ago, which was described as “pretty crazy” by Eastlick. Last April, the club went on a trip to Devil’s Lake where they spent the day hiking and enjoying the scenery. This year, Eastlick plans on taking the club members to the Mines of Spain and the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium.
The fundraiser this year is bluebird houses. “Thanks to Larry Kalina’s donation of the barn wood, we will be able to put these birdhouses together,” said Eastlick. Eastlick likes doing fundraisers that are related to the environment to get kids thinking about things we can do that help nature and the environment around us.
The Club is also helping to raise funds with the downtown revitalization committee for the Driftless Park. “We try to do some educational things throughout the year as well,” said Eastlick.
As everyone expects, the field trips are the favorite of many members. “Field trips and picking up trash to help the environment,” are mentioned as favorite activities by Brayden Hutchcroft, treasurer of the Environmental Club. “If you like the outdoors, it is a fun club and the people in it are fun, so I would recommend joining,” said Hutchcroft. “I joined because I heard good things about it and I wanted to help the environment”. Eastlick would also recommend joining the club. “I think we have fun, and we do some physical activities so you aren’t just sitting around.” Environmental Club is very involved around the community, and it is a good way to give back by fundraising for community projects.