The Kent State Biology Club is preparing for an eventful end of the semester and summer with hopes to raise awareness for the club, which is dedicated to care for animals and promote environmental awareness.

Along with projects aimed at both the spring semester and the summer, the Biology Club also plans on expanding its role within the school and community.

“We’re getting more involved with the (Cunningham Hall) greenhouse,” Carley Pasquale, president of the Biology Club, said. “(We’re getting more involved with) things, involving more plants, horticulture, volunteering and conservation projects.”

Pasquale said that the club is planning a monarch butterfly project for the summer. The project is aimed at preserving the breed of butterflies through a “way station,” a habitat where the butterflies can reproduce safely when they are in their migration period.

Along with the butterfly summer project, the club has planned events that are community-friendly, including greenhouse volunteer events and trips to the zoo.

Aaron Self, the activity chair for the Biology Club, coordinates the activities and events the club engages in.

“We are coordinating with the greenhouse,” Self said. “Usually, it’s a beneficial half-and-half; the Biology Club will provide workers, and the greenhouse will provide supplies.”

Self said that the endeavor has become “lopsided,” due to problems with getting more volunteers for the greenhouse volunteering.

“This time around, we will be selling flowers, vegetables and herbs,” Self said. “All of the proceeds for that will go toward maintaining the animal room or to (fund) our projects, such as the butterfly project in the greenhouse.”

Self said that this money goes toward events such as zoo trips for the organization by offsetting ticket prices and paying for gas and carpooling.

Along with events, the Biology Club also maintains its animal room, where people can see the many snakes, insects, lizards and more the club has to offer to the public in Cunningham Hall.

“(The animal room) has been around since the beginning of Biology Club,” animal room co-chair Jen Giles said. “It started off mostly with animals that were donated….The club just incorporated (the animal room) in.”

Giles said the club’s oldest animal in the room is Billy, a 27-year-old boa constrictor, which was donated by Ferenc de Szalay, an associate professor of biological sciences at Cunningham Hall.

Giles said that the club tries to include any member that wants to get involved with the animal room, so long as they follow the rules to animal care.

The Biology Club meets every Thursday at 6 p.m. in Cunningham Hall, room 101, open for any student with any major to attend. The club has a Facebook group that anyone can join for event updates.

To reach their Facebook group, click here. 

Contact Jacob Runnels at [email protected].