STERLING — The Chocksett Middle School Conservation Club is still going strong five years after a former student watched a documentary about climate change and was moved to do something.
Matthew Trombley, now a junior at Wachusett RegionalHighSchool,was that student. He was concerned to learn how climate change is affecting polar bears in the Arctic Circle. His dad reached out to his then fifth-grade teacher, Krissy Dick, and explained that Matthew wanted to do something to help.
The next step involved Matthew meeting with Chocksett Principal Christopher LaBreck to talk about his idea. Shortly after that, Matthew received the go-ahead to start the Conservation Club. He then asked Dick if she would be the club adviser, and the rest is history.
Dick said the school has kept the club going since Matthew moved on to high school, and they had 17 members last year. This year they have 13 impassioned members from grades five through eight who “spend one hour a month together. We discuss conservation issues both globally and locally,” the adviser said.
Every year the club donates to the World Wildlife Federation to sponsor or adopt an endangered species. In the past they have adopted a red panda, slow loris, and an American bison. This year, they voted to adopt an elephant. Another project the club has done in the past involved researching Swedish climate and environmental activist Greta Thunberg and watching her on YouTube delivering her speech at the U.N. Climate Action Conference in 2019.
“We also read some books about her,” Dick said of Thunberg, who is now 19.
During the 2018-19 school year, Conservation Club members Dylan Bavosi and Zach Prest proposed that the club collect donations to purchase and plant a cherry tree on the school grounds. In addition, the students studied plants and planned and created a flower garden last year at the school that attracts pollinators; they have also planted vegetables that they harvest.
“We received a grant from the Sterling Garden Club to buy some plantings and supplies for the existing garden beds at that time,” Dick said. “Through research, students learned one of the best ways to fight climate change is to plant trees.”
She said that by the fall of 2021, “The wood on the garden bed frames were in pretty bad shape.”
“One of our club members, current sixth-grader Haylee Keckler, her dad Kris, and their family generously volunteered their time, labor and resources to rebuild a total of six new garden beds filled with fresh peat,” Dick said. “These were completed in the spring of 2022 and were ready to plant in early June. The flowers are currently still in bloom, and the vegetables are plentiful. Thanks to Chocksett janitor Jason Robinson for watering the beds during those hot days without rain.”
Amber Kerzee, 11, said she joined the club last year because she also wants to do what she can to help the planet.
“I realized this world is in danger, so I want to do everything in my power to stop it,” the sixth-grader said. “We learn what is happening to the Earth and how to stop it. I hope one day we humans know what is actually happening to Earth and we do something to help it.”
Dick said she recently received an email from Matthew’s younger sister Alyssa Trombley, a WRHS freshman who is also a Chocksett and Conservation Club alum.
“Alyssa is a Girl Scout, and her troop recently built and placed bat houses around the perimeter of our school grounds,” Dick said. “She asked that the Conservation Club help keep an eye on them. That will probably be the focus of our club research this coming school year.”
The educator said she enjoys being part of the club and seeing the students be so engaged in it.
“Students are passionate about the planet and its inhabitants,” Dick said. “They want to preserve and protect the life in Earth’s habitats. As long as there are students who have an interest in conservation, Chocksett Conservation Club will be around to help nurture their ideas and plans for helping the environment. Chocksett students inspire me. I enjoy mentoring this group of young people, and I learn so much from them, every day.”
