Students in the Sustainability Club discuss their goals for the year during their first meeting of the school year. photo by Georgia Hartley
After a year of being online, Sustainability Club is back in person and ready to continue making TJ a more environmentally friendly place.
It’s a new year for the Thomas Jefferson High School Sustainability Club, and this year they are back and better than ever. This will be the club’s fourth year at TJ and it already has nearly 35 participants. With all of the new members, this year is sure to be a successful one for the Sustainability Club.
The Sustainability Club currently meets every Wednesday during lunch. A typical club meeting begins with announcements from the club president and vice president, and then the club splits off into different groups. The Sustainability Club’s project manager, (senior) Gabby Demaria, explains these different groups by saying, “We have three main groups for the sustainability club. The first one is projects, then we have fundraising, which is led by Emerson Althaus and we also have marketing and social media which is led by (seniors) Avery LoJacono and Grace Leonard.” The Sustainability Club’s meetings are very organized and have a place for everyone no matter where their interest lies. Sustainability Club also offers many officer positions, which is a great opportunity for those who are interested in being more involved. “We have a group of leadership called the Core Team, who help guide the meetings,” says President Georgia Hartley.
To help reach their overall goal, the club has a few projects planned, including extending the composting system. Demaria said, “Right now, we are still kind of in the planning phase, but our whole goal as the Sustainability Club is to make TJ a more sustainable place. One of our current projects that we are still in the process of brainstorming and figuring out is composting in the cafeteria.” In past years, the club has set up a composting system for the kitchen and cafeteria staff. This year, one of their goals is to make those bins accessible to students as well. Hartley hopes to achieve this by “focusing on education surrounding composting and waste mitigation.” Additionally, the Sustainability Club will be doing many fundraisers throughout the year and give students outside of the club opportunities to participate with volunteer events.
Members of the Sustainability Club are also highly encouraged to take action in their personal lives. Both Hartley and Demaria go above and beyond on their own to make sure they are doing their part for the environment. Demaria describes ways she incorporates sustainability into her daily life by composting and recycling. “Those are two easy things that my family definitely tries to make a priority at home.” Hartley takes many similar steps to Demaria in order to cut down her waste. She adds on by saying, “I compost at my house, which is a big thing to divert [my family’s] food waste from the landfill and into the compost. You too can compost at home through the city and county of Denver.” Both Demaria and Hartley are passionate about composting; however, there are other ways to reduce waste. Hartley went on to say, “Other small things are choosing to walk places instead of driving to reduce gas emissions and [to bring] reusable bags to the grocery store to reduce plastic waste.” Cutting down waste is an easy and effective way to protect the environment, and the Sustainability Club is the perfect place for anyone who is looking to learn more about how they can take action.
This year, the Sustainability Club has lots of important projects planned surrounding waste management. It is the perfect club for any students interested in learning how they can do their part for the planet. With all of their new members, it is sure to be a successful year in making TJ a more sustainable school.
