Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

At school, I am founder and president of Club F.A.C.E. also known as Fellow Advocates for Conserving the Environment. I began the club at the beginning of my junior year, in which more than 150 students chose to join. Before I created Club F.A.C.E., there was no place for students at my school to turn to who were concerned about the condition of our environment. By creating the club, I provided a place for students to get informed as well as voice their ideas on ways to create an environmentally friendly school. Once a month, I hold meetings that discuss upcoming events and fundraisers that will be done to make Memorial High School more environmentally friendly. Along with club meetings, I also show documentaries that create environmental awareness, and after watching the documentaries, I lead club members in a discussion on the ideas and topics presented in the documentary. Recently, I have petitioned the school to establish aluminum bins that would be set up in the cafeterias. By setting up these bins, I hope to raise awareness about recycling as well as influence people to recycle. Through the club, I am able to share my passions with others and hopefully make a difference in the conservation of the environment. This past Earth Day gave me the chance to share the importance of the environmental movement. With about 15 of my club members, we set out to plan the first Earth Week that has ever occurred at my school. During the week, we passed out environmentally-friendly tote bags to reduce the amount of plastic thrown away each year. We sold organic t-shirts that said "Be the Change You Wish to See in the World," which described perfectly what our goal was for Earth Week. Additionally, to raise money for buying aluminum recycling bins for the cafeteria, we sold various baked goods. With the selling of the t-shirts and baked goods combined we raised a total of $1000 dollars that week. We are now able to buy the aluminum bins for the 2010-2011 school year. The main project during Earth Week was the campaign we called Ride Your Bike to School on Earth Day. We rallied for people to get up and find an alternate transportation to school to reduce carbon emissions. The campaign was a success because on average there are only 1-2 bikes every day on the bike racks, however, on Earth Day there was over 40 bikes! We passed out environmentally friendly water bottles as an incentive for people to ride their bikes and they loved it! There were people coming up and telling us that they were glad that we had done this campaign because they felt more awake and ready for school and now are going to ride their bikes to school as much as they can. The Earth Day 2010 project really impacted my school in a positive way by getting people excited about conserving the environment as well as creating a more unified body of people in support of the conservation of the environment.