As seniors at Lyons Township, Bella Dziak ‘20 and Greta Molek ‘20 are in the process of creating a proposal for a new club based on the environment. With a passion to lessen their carbon footprint, they hope to lessen LT’s footprint as well.

“Learning about the issues going on in the world makes me upset and eager to help in any way I can,” Dziak said.

This upcoming year, a new conservation club will be proposed to the school board to see if it will become an official club at LTHS. The goal is to promote and explore sustainability and conservation at school, in the community, personally, and globally, club co-advisor, Michelle Wrona said.

“Ultimately, we hope to educate and engage our student body in current environmental issues,” Wrona said. “Give students a voice and an opportunity to make a change in practices for the betterment of all.”

This would be a student-run club by Molek and Dziak with the hope of getting more students involved. The club is open to any student who is interested in helping LT become more environmentally friendly. So far, around 35 students have expressed an interest, club co-advisor Eric Nuss said.

“Since I am in high school and have limited ways to help the environment, I think the least I can do is spread awareness and become more knowledgeable on the issues that people are careless about,” Dziak said.

While this is not an official LT club yet, it has been an idea since the beginning of January in 2018. It has been proposed to the student activities director, Peter Geddeis, but will be proposed to the school board on Dec. 5. If it is given a trial year, that would begin in January of 2020.

“We want to create an environmental club because we want to make a difference,” Molek said. “Currently, it is important to be aware of how we impact our surroundings, and we want to help our school and community with doing so.”

The conservation club will take on issues that the students choose and think are the most important to tackle at Lyons Township. They will then create solutions to environmental problems that they might find throughout the school.

“This year, we are hoping to reduce plastic consumption in the cafeteria and convert more teachers to Canvas to reduce paper use, as well as doing an ‘Adopt-a-Beach’ event at the end of the year where we will clean a beach on Lake Michigan,” Molek said.

Other projects the conservation club plans to conduct are making posters to bring awareness to the students of LT and have fundraisers to collect funds to make all this possible, Dziak said.

“As a school, we have an opportunity to lead by example,” Nuss said. “Hopefully community members and students will be inspired by the club to make changes at home.”

The conservation club will meet every late start Wednesday at North Campus in room 310 at 3:30 after school. It will meet throughout the whole year.