Environmental Club picks up Dover and helps insects and plants
Becky Sedares, a teacher at Tuscarawas Central Catholic Elementary, and members of the Environmental Club pick up trash in the pollinator garden. Pictured are students Miles Marino, left, Anthony Ajanel-Ixocy, and Austin Reiger.
The Environmental Club at Tuscarawas Central Catholic Elementary School in Dover shows children how they can change their world for the better with simple acts. The club meets weekly to engage in activities like picking up trash, maintaining a pollinator garden and collecting seeds.
The club was founded by TCCES teachers Becky Sedares and Beth Cecil. In three years the club has grown to about 25 students from fifth and sixth grade.
“Every Thursday we go on a little walk, and we pick up trash to save the environment, and we can help animals,” said Phoenix Carter, a member of the club.
There is more to be done in the club than one would think.
“In the fall and spring, we clean up the pollinator garden and plant new plants so there’s a variety for the animals,” Sofia Ionno said.
The club meets right after school.
“We go around and walk around the community and just pick up any trash that we see on the sides of the road or like on the sidewalks to help the community stay clean,” Carson Fisher said.
Fisher reports the group has seen a bit less trash in the neighborhood since they have begun regular pickups. And the group promotes good habits. Fisher has picked up trash in his neighborhood too.
The club’s activities tie into what they learn about their Christian faith.
“In religion class we learn about how to help out God’s creation. And that’s what we’re doing at Environmental Club by picking up trash,” Reagan Dillon said.
The club’s deeds are part of the school’s expectations for its students.
“One of our expectations that gets read on our announcements is that we are good citizens who serve others,” Cecil said. “So it’s something they hear and try to put into action that they’re good citizens and they can do their part as kids.”
As part of a meeting, the group traveled to an area outside of the school’s neighborhood for a cleanup.
“A few of us went to a parking lot near the fairgrounds because we noticed that there was a lot of trash after the fair,” Adeline Delahunty said. “We picked up as much trash as we could. We got four or five bags.”
The club takes care of a pollinator garden in the back of the school.
“We took seeds from flowers, and then we’re going to plant them in the summer,” Annalynne Ekmark said. “And then we left some of the seeds for the birds.”
The club members do not totally clean out the garden in the fall because it is beneficial to insects who will winter over in the stems of the plants. In the spring they have found young praying mantises and noticed at least 20 praying mantis casings.
“They know that we should not really take down our garden. We should leave things standing through the fall and winter so that we help preserve our bee population and our butterfly population,” Sedares said.
The group is particularly interested in helping keep the monarch butterfly from becoming extinct. They have two different species of milkweed — common milkweed and swamp milkweed. They have been harvesting milkweed seeds and plan to plant them to add more milkweed plants to the school grounds.
The group has found other ways to help protect the environment.
“We uprooted some invasive species, one called the tree of heaven,” Levi McCahill said. “They’re called invasive because they do not belong to this area, and they don’t usually grow in this area.”
The tree of heaven seeds sprout quickly and can choke out native plants. The group has removed 15-20 of the plants from their garden.
They also will do an experiment at another meeting. They will bury items in the garden and dig them up in the spring. The items will include different kinds of trash, apple cores and banana peels.
They also learn about decomposition another way.
“We collect anything that can decompose, and we decompose it in the compost bin,” Fabian Agiurre said.
Once the items have turned into compost, they have another purpose.
“We’re going to put it on our garden and spread it around so it nourishes the garden and helps it grow,” Bella Ankrom said.
The club members are excited about another project.
“We’re going to have a group of people rake leaves on school property and maybe help out neighboring houses,” Zane Lyne said.
Lyne enjoys being in the club.
“I get to hang out with my friends and doing God’s will,” Lyne said.
In the colder months, the group plans to have a baking fundraiser to raise money for more supplies. They use grabbers, gloves, garden equipment and wear safety vests to pick up litter. They also purchased a rain barrel, which did not see much use this year.
Anyone interested in donating to the group or suggesting an area for cleanup can call the school office at 330-343-9134.