Sustainability at East

While there is much effort put forth towards members of the Cherry Hill community, there are also hard-working students in Cherry Hill East that work towards goals in making the school and the community more green.

Conservation Club

The Conservation Club works towards practicing methods of conservation for the environment and for the future of our lives. Yulissa Trinidad (‘24), president of the club, has organized two bake sales this year and plans on giving the money raised to charities, fundraisers, and organizations that hold litter clean-up events.

With goals and initiatives in mind, Trinidad learned about being more environmentally-conscious and the positive impact the club has made on her and others’ lives.

“My friends and I started taking caution again. Everytime we go [to] lunch we’re [asking ourselves] “Where does this go?” [and] “Where does that go?” when we see trash. Also, when we hang out we tend to pick up trash wherever we go,” said Trinidad.

Trinidad also sees a bright future for its upcoming year with various conservation and sustainability projects planned including collaborations with a youth environment organization outside of East called LEAP for Climate. It is planned to hold Terracycle events and cleanups in the area.

Regarding Terracycling, Trinidad recognizes the importance of this initiative.

“There is a lot of trash in here and also a lot of kids tend to use makeup or wipes…something they can recycle here so they don’t have to recycle at home or anything. This will be good for East,” said Trinidad.

As the year progresses, she has many plans to implement change into her own life as well as achieving goals for the future of the club as well.

“In the summer for myself, I plan on picking up trash wherever I go now and for the club I plan on making a lot of trail cleanups and bake sales,” said Trinidad.

Environment Club

The Environment Club has held various types of events that range from educating students on topics such as the negative impacts of fast fashion and plastic pollution to creating a pollinator garden this year. 

Alicia Albuquerque (‘23), president of Environment Club, explains the necessity of acting upon the climate crisis today and the impact each person has in the community.

“A lot of people think that the action that they are taking at home and in their own personal lives doesn’t really matter on a global scale and it’s really this climate nihilism that is really so harmful to the climate crisis…the worst thing that you can do is think that we’re helpless and give up on it but in reality we need action now more than ever. That starts the action that you take in your own home and in your own life and so that’s the message that we’re trying to spread,” said Albuquerque.

With the events that were already held this year, their actions do not stop here as there are goals already set as the upcoming school year approaches. This includes plans to organize more cleanups and work towards implementing composting practices in East while also working with members of the community.

“Definitely in the future we will be looking for more activities where we’re actually going into our community and taking the Environmental Club [to] expand our reach outside of just the classroom and taking us out into parks or maybe down to the beaches and cleaning up there,” said Albuquerque.

Both clubs have made a positive impact not only on the East community for their inspiring motives but also for their actions that are keeping the planet green each and every day.