Avey Gannaway

Michael Valdez introduces Students for Environmental Awareness and Animal Rights members to the Earth Tomorrow program. The club plans to have a camping trip to Huntsville State Park in November.

Environmental justice. Preserving forests. Keeping plants alive.

These were some of the topics discussed at the Students for Environmental Awareness and Animal Rights(SEAARK) meeting on Sept. 28 in Room 3728. National Wildlife Federation Program Manager Michael Valdez also introduced club members to a possible camping trip.

Attendees will meet with around 30 other teens for a leadership camping experience Nov. 3-5 at Huntsville State Park. Participants will plant native wildlife as part of the National Wildlife Federation’s Earth Tomorrow program.

Junior Shreyas Sinha is interested in attending the trip after attending a SEAARK meeting for the first time.

“I’ve never gone camping before,” Sinha said. “So, I think this would be a really fun opportunity for me. Also, I think it would be amazing to explore nature personally without having words or pictures on the internet to do it for me.”

Valdez shared a short presentation on the National Wildlife Federation and the organization’s purpose. Sinha resonated with Valdez’s presentation.

“My favorite part was definitely when he explained to us the importance of environmental justice, especially in man-made environments like cities and schools,” Sinha said. “I found that really interesting and unique because I haven’t really heard those ideas before.”

Valdez ended the meeting with a lively interactive demonstration of what environmental justice may look like. Similar to the “Red Light, Green Light” game, he asked club members to put themselves in the position of threatened wildlife. Participants were tasked with reaching a bag of candy at the end of the hall while hiding Valdez’s water bottle. Though club members’ objective was to reach the candy, the ultimate goal of the game was to show how difficult it is to survive for endangered wildlife.

“If your voice was ignored, how would you feel?” Valdez asked.

To keep up with SEAARK, join the club’s Remind @bhsseaark or follow it on Instagram @bhs.seaark.