Student-led Sustainability: Kilbourne's Environmental Club
Worthington Kilbourne High School offers a lot of clubs and extracurricular activities that students can join and become involved in. A club that stands out is the Environmental Club which does a lot throughout the year to help promote environmental awareness. It’s important for every high school to have an environmental club so awareness can be spread more and so that each school does their own part in making the world a cleaner place.
Ms. Hundertpfund looks over the students of Environmental club in WKHS, but she expresses how the club is mostly led by the students who come up with ideas and projects they are passionate about and execute them with her help. The main objective of the club is to educate others on the importance of maintaining the environment, and the members of the environmental club do this through multiple fun activities. Members practice proper recycling by managing all the recycling bins from all the classrooms and the ones in the commons. Ms. Hundertpfund explains that other events are also held throughout the year such as, “grounds-clean up days, compost collections, and upcycling art projects.” She also states how important it is to keep this up so recycling efforts throughout the school continue to be communicated.
The president of the environmental club, student Stephanie Baumgardt, tells a little about her role as the president. Her job is “to direct and initiate activities,” she says, and those are carried out through the participation of everyone in the club. Some of the activities they do include the grounds-clean up day which takes place every year and help keep the school clean, “especially of the trash from the ravine outside,” Baumgardt shares. Another activity the club has done to promote composting is collecting old pumpkins which are sent to farms. Occasionally, the club also collects food from lunch periods and uses it as compost for Kilbourne’s greenhouse. Baumgardt emphasizes how important it is to recycle because many materials that can be put into good use are often discarded. The club encourages other students to recycle correctly but it can be difficult with incoming freshmen every year. So, the club promotes recycling through many school events like pack periods, games, and even during the Arts and Action day held at WKHS every year.
Our environmental club brings an opportunity to have fun while also helping our community and is a perfect way to connect with others who share the same goal of helping the environment. Baumgardt comments, “I never feel like I’m working on a project alone.” If you’re interested in what the environmental club does you can simply start attending club meetings which are held every other Wednesday after school in Room 252. It’s a very easy process so give it a try once and if you like it you can keep coming and become involved!
