A Profile on the Stuyvesant Environmental Club

The Stuyvesant Environmental Club (SEC), founded in 2012, “aims to raise awareness, promote education, and encourage action regarding environmental issues within the Stuyvesant community.” SEC hosts both in-person volunteer events and weekly club meetings to support their cause. The club encourages students interested in environmentalism to participate through the various committees they offer: Gardening, Green Team, and Research. SEC is well-known for hosting the annual Earth Day Fair in April, where they introduce the school community to different ways they can work to sustain the Earth, teach environmental topics through fun activities, and give out awards and extra credit for teachers who agree to do so.

However, SEC is not just a hub for interested students. “It also helps you find community. We try to actually make a difference within the school and New York City as a whole,” senior and SEC president Ia Sofocleous stated. For example, SEC once had its members collaborate and create murals from recycled bottle caps. To begin, they came up with a design for the mural, which, in the past, was selected through a competition. Next, the club gathered a large poster board for the base and a large supply of materials including bottle caps and old CDs. Soon after, the recycled bottle caps were glued on for the letters and the background was filled with foam scraps. “[These meetings help] prevent these materials from going into landfills [while also] beautifying the school,” Sofocleous added.

Like many other clubs at Stuyvesant, SEC has a faculty advisor: biology teacher Marissa Maggio. She has assisted the club since the club began receiving funding in 2012. “Ms. Maggio is a very authoritative figure, but you can tell she is really passionate about the kids and everything that she does,” sophomore and SEC secretary Oruno Bubu mentioned. 

Maggio has proven her investment in the club by keeping the cabinet on track with their responsibilities, as well as offering helpful connections and resources. “This summer, [Maggio] emailed us a volunteer opportunity she found that can be a part of the research committee. [...] I honestly think that she wouldn’t let us slack. She would really push us to keep going,” Sofocleous added. Other than finding opportunities, Maggio has offered suggestions, such as to update the club website and renovate the recycling bin signs around the school, that have helped improve the club.

Moreover, junior and SEC vice president Mahjabin Ishika shared a fond experience they had while working with SEC. “My favorite memory was the meeting where we worked on the sustainability lab sign as requested by Ms. Maggio to decorate the hydroponics lab,” Ishika shared. “During the meeting, we were kinda experimenting with the foam and trying to make designs since most of what we had already had cuts in it. Since the meeting occurred during AP season, it was a stressful month for me, but that meeting was really chill. We mostly just joked around and talked about future plans, and I really enjoyed spending my afterschool like that.” Despite the stress of AP exams, members of SEC collaborate on activities and events in an engaging way with their peers, who are available to support one another.

This school year, the SEC board revealed a number of new plans. Small changes will include Ecofriendly Facts being included in Business Manager Dina Ingram’s weekly emails and touching up the turtle mural on the seventh floor. The cabinet also expressed interest in reviving older initiatives such as webinars and City Hall park cleanups. There is also a possibility that SEC will collaborate with LaGuardia’s environmental club. “We’re thinking of an outside event collaboration. Maybe Tompkins Square Park because that’s pretty easy to do on the weekends,” Sofocleous announced.

Additionally, SEC will make the previously mandated weekly tasks (such as watering the plants and making sure the trash is sorted in the right bins) optional, which is a major change since the old system was in place for a long time. “We want people to have fun and not stress about member requirements. It is now just something you can do for extra hours,” Bubu elaborated. 

To add on, SEC is starting to move away from using Discord as its main form of communication. “We’re kind of moving away from using Discord. It’s still gonna be there if members want to use it, but leadership won’t be communicating there anymore. This year, we’ll be using Messenger instead,” Sofocleous explained.

Additionally, the club has a vision for major changes, starting with reforming its research committee. Instead of simply waiting for funding, the committee hopes to redirect their approach. A major project that is to be launched gives members the opportunity to identify and collect data on plant or pollinator species across New York City’s neighborhoods to create a map that can be used to track differences throughout the years. “That is something pretty cool, and that’s something that we don’t need funding for,” Sofocleous remarked. By collaborating with an outside organization that is generous enough to donate naturally-deceased bees, the project will avoid high costs. “We don’t know the details yet, because Anisah Rahman, the research committee director, wants the members to have more of a say in the direction of the project, but we strive to do things like that,” Sofocleous noted. 

At the end of the day, SEC serves as a hub for anyone interested in creating an impact on the community. With its mission statement and future goals in mind, the club aims to implement more ideas and opportunities for its members and any interested students. “We welcome everyone regardless of their other interests and whatever else they do. We really like the environment and giving back to the community,” Ishika expressed.