NOCTILUCA June 2016

NEWS Appleton, Wisconsin June 2016 Volume XXI Issue III Page 2 HOPE club promotes environmental awareness Over the past several By Rachel Flom

the bird kept staring at me, and it was sad because the bird only had one eye.” The disabled bird had been used for various educational pur- poses like school presenta- tions because of its inabil- ity to be released to the wild due to permanent injuries, according to Elko. Sadogierski and mem- bers of HOPE Club put countless hours into prepar- ing for the week. They had morning announcements, posters, and window dis- plays put up around North in order to spread awareness about the week’s events. Jacob Gass, HOPE Club member and part of the Re- cycling Committee, recog- nizes the importance of cel- ebrating Earth Week. “The HOPE Club, Recycling Committee, and Ms. Sa- dogierski put a lot of work into collaborating who we feel would be great present- ers for our Earth Week to help spread awareness of the things that we can do to help save our environment and the fragile ecosystems that it contains,” Gass said. Sadogierski and HOPE Club plan on continuing to have speakers and celebrat- ing Earth Week in future years. According to Sado- gierski, Earth Week 2017 is already in its planning stag- es and new speakers (along with old favorites) will be added to the presentation lineup. For any questions about Earth Week or to recom- mend speakers and topics for next year’s celebrations, contact Ms. Sadogierski.

habilitators, foresters, and conservationists. In previ- ous years, there have been a variety of speakers ranging from “green” construction companies to head stur- geon biologists to someone who visited Antarctica. Sa- dogierski has tried to have presentations from a variety of unique speakers over the years to make the week in- teresting. Students who had Ms. Sadogierski for environ- mental science were able to attend both of the speak- ers available during their class period as well as any speaker during I/E time that week. Instead of attending their science classes, stu- dents went to the LGI to hear the speakers present. Some speakers had fliers and brochures to accompa- ny their presentations while others had bird wings and live animals. Senior Jasmine Palacios appreciated being able to see the presentations during her environmental science and AP biology classes. “I liked it because it was something different outside of going to my science classes,” said Palacios. Amara Neitzke, a sophomore and HOPE Club officer, likes the variety of speakers because, “It was cool getting to see different people and how many op- tions there are for careers after high school that allow you to work in the environ- mental field.” Although there were stu- dents against the idea of Earth Week presentations, they still had the ability to learn a valuable experience ments throughout the nation by training people to orga- nize events in their commu- nities. According to the Organiz- ing for Action site (https:// www.barackobama.com/ about-ofa/ ) they have over 250 local chapters around the country and their volun- teers are “building this orga- nization from the ground up, community by community, one conversation at a time— whether that’s on a front

years, Appleton North has worked towards becom- ing more environmentally friendly by creating dif- ferent types of recycling bins in the commons and throughout the school, encouraging the use of Chromebooks over papers, and focusing on awareness about the impact that the North community has on the environment. This year, HOPE Club provided events and speak- ers for Earth Week in order to further promote spread- ing awareness about the environment. Ms. Sado- gierski, one of two teacher advisers for HOPE Club and the environmental sci- ence teacher, took charge of the events for that week. To celebrate the 46th an- nual Earth Day (and preced- ing Earth Week), Sadogier- ski hosted eight speakers during six out of the eight class periods during the week. Speakers came from various parts of Wisconsin to inform students about their careers and how they each help protect the en- vironment; Ryan Propson came from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Re- sources to explain the perks of his job as a conservation warden, Ann Donnellan from the Outagamie UW- Extension Horticulture of- fice to discuss the issue be- hind invasive species, and North alumna Regina Lob- ner about her experiences at Conserve School. Other speakers includ- ed recycling coordinators, wildlife technicians and re- Appleton North Junior Kate Bennett has recently been involved in Organiz- ing for Action or OFA. The organization started as Or- ganizing for Obama and de- veloped into Organizing for America and is now called Organizing for Action. Kate Bennett describes Organizing for Action as a “nonpartisan progressive movement.” This program promotes grassroots move- By Nora Ptacek

Tricia Elko holds a chicken as part of her Earth Week presentation as student attendee Michael Colon ob- serves. Photo by Rachel Flom

from them. “Even if stu- dents had a stinky attitude about going, each presenta- tion was interesting enough where even if you didn’t want to be there, you almost had to listen because it was so cool to hear,” said Neitz- ke. Many of the presenta- tions provoked discussions in the classroom about the subjects covered and the presenters themselves. Tricia Elko, a wildlife rehabilitator from the Wind River Rehabilitation Cen- ter, has become one of the most discussed presenters over the years that North has participated in Earth Week. She and fellow co- workers bring live animals Because OFA is nonpar- tisan, none of their organiz- ers can associate their events with certain parties. “They focus on issues that are im- portant to President Obama but in a nonpartisan way,” Kate Bennett said. To train their organiz- ers, OFA offers a six week program at different levels: basic, intermediate, and ad- vanced. Kate Bennett did a six week fellowship and porch or on Facebook.”

to their presentation to show their work at the re- hab center in action. This year, an injured barn owl was brought in and used for demonstra- tions about therapy for birds. Sadogierski says the Wind River Rehabilitation Center is one of her favorite presentations: “It is price- less to see students’ expres- sions when they see an ea- gle, hawk, or owl up close for the very first time!” Palacios said that her favorite presentation was also the rehabilitation cen- ter with the owl, saying, “It was interesting sitting in front getting to see the bird, although it was creepy how her community engagement event was a gender wage equality discussion forum. It was held at the Appleton Li- brary on May 26th. My OFA event was a big step towards creating community aware- ness around the issue of gen- der wage equality. I am ex- cited to continue my journey with OFA and to see where my organizational and lead- ership skills can better serve my community.”

Kate Bennett shares her Organizing for Action experience

Kate Bennett of Organiz- ing for Action.