Recycling, a word that has become very important in today’s green society, is not something to ignore. This word was especially motivating for one student, founder of the newly created ECO club, senior Kalli Proffitt. This determined leader talks of her motivation to create this environmentally friendly group and their future plans.
“I was pretty much just tired of seeing people throwing away bottles and being completely oblivious about Mother Earth. So I was like, okay, if I’m going to yell at somebody, I might as well do something about it,” Proffitt said.
After getting science teacher Dwight Warnke on her side, and after gathering a group of friends, Proffitt created the ECO club. She started the club in the middle of September.
“We meet Tuesday after school in room 127. Saturday we are going to the dump site and cleaning up tires and stuff. Then we have more activities planned for the spring because there is more stuff to do,” Proffitt said.
The ECO club has also put bottle recycling back into all of the rooms.
“Danielle Insall is the vice president because I needed a junior, and she is also one of my good friends. I’m trying to get more juniors and sophomores because it will be cool if everybody comes this year. If nobody is there next year that would be bad. Shaila Villeme is the secretary, Erica Westenberg is the treasurer, and then Autumn Kosbar is the historian,” Proffitt said, “All the officers are girls, so its like woman domination.”
Proffitt is still looking for more boys to join.
“It’s the first year, so I can understand that It’s still kind of small, but I was thinking maybe fifteen people at the most and it would grow. I think we have twenty something people right now,” Proffitt said, “ It’s sort of a laid back club.”
Proffitt reflects on the importance of recycling in her and others environment.
“People have to realize that if they aren’t going to recycle, where are they going to hunt? Where are they going to fish? All of that is going to be gone eventually,” Proffitt says.
The ECO club is having an awareness day after returning from Thanksgiving break.
“ I still remember the first day of sophomore year: Coach Odenwald, I think it was his first year, picked up a big pile of paper, and he was about to drop it into the trash. I stood up and I started screaming at him about how the recycling bin was two feet away, and how he was so lazy, and all these horrible things that he is doing to the environment. Yeah, he put it in the recycling. Every time he picked up a piece of paper after that I think he could sense I was watching him,” Proffitt said.
Recycling is collected by the club from the classrooms each week. Proffitt recalls an unpleasant incident.
“One of the really gross things was that we found chew in some of the bottles. That’s not slightly legal, at all,” Proffitt says, “It’s kind of sticky though handling all the bottles, my fingers actually stuck together, so I had the claw thing going on. But we collected quite a bit of recycling last weekend. It’s just like: wow, this is going to have an effect. ”
The ECO club is receiving a donation from Walmart for one thousand dollars in February, and additional funding comes from a ten dollar due from members which goes towards t-shirts. Students interested in joining are welcome to become involved.
“I’m hoping that some of the kids that join this year will take it home. If everybody switched to recycling it would be so much easier, but since only a certain amount of people in the world do it, it’s so much more expensive than regular trash,” Proffit said, “But what do I know; I’m just a psychotic teenager.”
