The Green Earth Society was created to focus on making changes in the community by spreading awareness on climate change and making SHS a greener place.

English teacher Paige Wyatt is the sponsor of the club. She says students can be a part of the team with little commitment but have a huge benefit for the future.

“Green Earth Society helps us feel like we’re doing our small part to help combat the effects of climate change,” Wyatt said. “Which helps our mental state greatly.” 

 In the fall of 2021, Green Earth Society reached out to Indiana senate member, Jack Sandlin. They wrote to him asking for his support on climate change initiatives. His assistant answered and said that Sandlin was unfortunately unable to speak with them. 

“I think that would’ve been such a valuable and powerful experience for students, and they were upset when it didn’t work out,’’ Wyatt said.  

Wyatt practices what is preached in the club. In her classes, she balances out how much paper she uses for her students by going half electronic and half paper. 

Senior NgunHleiTial Sangkim is part of the club to get community service hours for her college applications along with giving back to the environment.

 “I think being in the Green Earth Society can help you understand your duty as a person to help the environment and the school,’’ Tial said.

Last year, The Green Earth society was granted 250 trees to give away and plant around in the community. Students and teachers were taking these trees home to plant and many neighborhoods tried to order one tree for each household. The demand was very high for these trees and Wyatt claims that there were not enough trees for everyone who wanted them. . 

‘‘That was a really cool, rewarding experience because we knew that we were putting more trees out there into our community,” Wyatt said. “It’s going to directly benefit us.”

Along with planting trees, the club wants to make a few start a community garden by utilizing the greenhouses at SHS. 

The Green Earth Society hopes to make a campaign to spread awareness by making short videos for the SHS announcements. One of the goals they want to reach is making recycling more convenient at athletic and music events. 

“A lot of students say they see a lot of waste,’’ Wyatt said. “Those end up in the trash and they can be recycled.’’

The club meets every Friday after school to pick up the recycled papers from bins in classrooms.