At Lake Land College (LLC), there is always a guarantee that the surrounding greenery will be cared for, whether through trash pickup runs or by raising awareness of additional environmental concerns. The people who provide such care and love to the outside world around the LLC campus are also known as those who created and continue to coordinate the Environmental Club.
The Environmental Club hopes to create opportunities, awareness and change that will continue to benefit the environment at LLC and beyond. At times, their reach has extended as far as the Douglas Hart Nature Center in Mattoon, where they have gone on multiple trips to support conservation efforts. “Our mission is to bring students together and help them be aware of environmental issues and how they can be involved in their solutions,” says Peter Rosen, one of the many dedicated members of the Environmental Club.
Peter continued to say, “LLC Environmental Club is involved in small projects to improve biodiversity, beauty and health of campus.” Some of the previous projects the Environmental Club has been a part of include trash clean-ups, maintaining a butterfly garden, creating bird boxes and fundraising for trips and donations to other environmental organizations. One of their more recent trash pickups included working around the LLC apartment complexes, picking up bottles and cans and recycling what they could.
As the Environmental Club is advised by Jeff White, the environmental science teacher on campus, led by Kyra Hazelton and maintained by the many club members within, impassioned work is being done on campus for the living world around LLC’s corner of Illinois. During their meetings, they make efforts to come together and create new initiatives to complete during the semester. Last semester, this led to the creation of a terrarium project within the club. In this current semester, there are ideas within the club to travel farther to nature organizations they have not yet visited or reached out to, expanding their work.
Alongside their many projects, however, the club also prides itself on being an inclusive, friendly and relaxed environment for people, regardless of their current knowledge level on environmental issues or initiatives. “Environmental Club is an easy way for students to learn more about creating positive environmental change,” Peter said. “No, we don’t just pick up trash, but I can tell you that everyone in the club is happy to do that.” To students who are interested in joining, the Environmental Club meets weekly on Wednesdays in Neal Hall 105 at 11 a.m.
