Students for Environmental Change is a new on-campus club as of spring 2022 for students who want to take part in environmental and sustainability practices.

The president of the club, Grace Watson, is a part of the current e-board that founded the club. 

“As an environmental and conservation biology major, I have always had a love for the environment,” Watson said. “We have a lot of environmental clubs at Kent State, but I wanted to do my own thing and create a more relaxed environment for students that is a low commitment, where people can have fun and do things that help support nature.”

The club participates in events like hiking during the summer to places like Towner’s Woods, Kent Bog and the Portage Hike and Bike Trail, she said.

During the winter, Watson and other members contributed to a plastic water bottle cap drive.

“We collected a bunch of different bottle caps from campus, and then we donated them to a nature reserve and they made a plastic bench out of them,” Watson said. “In the winter, we just like to find any outside organization and help them with anything that they need.”

The club also has participated in events like invasive species removal and local park clean-ups. 

“We cleaned up downtown Kent near the Fred Fuller park area too,” Watson said. “We got a lot of trash out of there, which was great. We have also planted little flowers with pollinators that we handed out during Earth Fest so that people could start their own planters and we made pine cone bird feeders for the birds in the wintertime, that the members could take home. It is something that our members can make, take and implement in their daily lives.”

During the month of November, they plan to watch “The Lorax” while painting tote bags.

Although the club only meets about once or twice a month, Watson said this has been the easiest way to get a large turnout of people to come to their events. Since they are not required to meet multiple times a week, it gives them something fun to look forward to, she said.

Watson said they have been getting more and more members and consistency with attendance. 

“For our hikes, we definitely get a pretty good turnout of about 15–20 people,” she said. “My big thing is showing people who come to Kent, especially students not from the area, new hiking places. I feel like it is nice for people who have a passion for the environment to know what is available to them or in the area.”

Since Watson and some of her other e-board members are graduating soon, they are looking for more future e-board members to fill their shoes, as well as more general body members to join in on their environmental events to help be more sustainably conscious. 

“Just caring more about our environment is so important and I think Kent’s nature parks also instill that idea of inspiration to help,” she said. “I think being conscious, learning or asking questions about what it means to be sustainable helps a lot, since not everyone knows about that. I think that is a good first step in helping the environment in the ways that we can.”

For more information about the Students for Environmental Change club, you can check out their Instagram @kentstatesec.

Ella Katona is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].