This week, Type One reached out to seniors Matt Jordan and Caroline Adkins, two leaders of the Environmental Action club at Pine Crest. This club advocates for more responsible treatment of the environment and for community members to make small changes to their lifestyles in order to help protect the planet.

According to President Matt Jordan, this club “enables engaged environmentalists to explore ways to help within the community and expand their interest in environmental science.”  

Although the club has been a part of Pine Crest for years, this year it has become increasingly active with dedicated members looking to make a change. The club, led by Jordan and Vice President Caroline Adkins, will be starting a new recycling program in addition to other various activities throughout the year, which will help get the whole Pine Crest community involved.

Caroline Adkins is extremely proud of what the club has accomplished this year stating that it has been “a lot more educational and active.”  In fact, the club began this involvement in October with the Homecoming electronics drive.

Adkins noted, “It was nice to see the entire School get involved in a meaningful way at the same time as increasing school spirit.”   

The Environmental Action club, along with its sponsor Ms. Vatland, also traveled to the Everglades to explore and learn about its unique ecosystem. This experience provided them with an opportunity to observe the incredible life within the Everglades for themselves.  

Additionally, Environmental action club “hosts speakers that come and talk to members of the Environmental Action club and anyone who’s interested about key environmental issues such as climate change and chemical pollution,” said Jordan.  

However, the club’s most recent endeavor has been their new recycling program.

“As most people know, we have implemented our big recycling initiative, and that has been probably our biggest project this year,” said Adkins.  

After tirelessly working with the administration to get the program approved, Jordan and Adkins needed the help of the school to actually make the program worthwhile.  

She went on to say, “a lot of people are under the impression that we (Pine Crest) do not recycle at all, so it was vital to get the word out about the new changes.”

In order to do so, the club board was responsible for presenting in front of the upper, middle, and lower school on both campuses.  During this presentation, Matt Jordan and board member Julia Borsiak presented the importance of recycling and what should and should not be recycled.  The recycling bins are scheduled to arrive this coming week, and Adkins, who manned the PowerPoint for the presentations, said, “it will be really cool to see them around School and get people to actually start recycling.”  

This incredible undertaking will hopefully conserve the amount of waste created at Pine Crest for years to come.  It is extremely important our entire community is involved to guarantee we reduce the amount of trash we create, starting with recycling.  

Beyond this program, Jordan hopes, “the club continues these established actions and expands Pine Crest’s environmental conscienceless with a compost system in the School lunchroom.”  

Jordan and Adkins will graduate this spring.  We wish them both luck and know they will have a lasting impact on the Pine Crest community, giving the students and faculty an opportunity to change the world by recycling.