NOCTILUCA June 2016

NEWS

Appleton, Wisconsin June 2016 Volume XXI

Issue III Page 2

HOPE club promotes environmental awareness

Over the past several

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-

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

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

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

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.

Tricia Elko holds a chicken as part of her Earth Week

presentation as student attendee Michael Colon ob-

serves.

Photo by Rachel Flom

Kate Bennett shares her Organizing for Action experience

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

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

porch or on Facebook.”

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

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 of Organiz-

ing for Action.