HOLDEN — One local student’s passion for the planet motivated her to form a new club at her school.
Mayo Elementary School fourth-grader Clementine Doyle-Bouvier approached Principal Carla Squier about wanting to do more for Mayo and the environment. As a result, the Environment Club was born at the beginning of this year.
“When my dad or my mom or my brother would take me for a drive, I would look out the window and see all of this trash on the side of the road, plastic bags tied to the trees, and I would see little strands of plastic in birds’ nests and I was just sad to see that,” the budding environmentalist said. “The animals are adapting to it when that shouldn’t be the case.”
She said she was “definitely worried about the environment” before she came across the book You Can Change the World: The Kids’ Guide to a Better Planet by Lucy Bell. She had gone to the library to seek out books on the environment, and reading that book motivated her.
“I think it’s important for me to do this because I see people just throwing the lunch paper bags away in the trash, and I practically yell at them and say to put it in recycling, because it’s just so much easier with the recycling,” Clementine said of why she wanted to bring the cause to the school. “With the school, if we all could come together in one group — one, it’s a big way for us to make friends, and it’s also a way to have fun but also be aware of the situation that we should change.”
There are 28 fourth- and fifth-grade students in the Environment Club, which focuses on the Earth and what students can do to help preserve it by recycling, reducing waste, conservation, and more. Mayo Kindergarten teacher Kristin Dorogi advises the club along with fifthgrade teacher Joann Severence.
“In addition Principal Squier, Assistant Principal Laura Ramos, school secretary Lindsay Dupuis, and custodians Billy Chalecki, Mike Wilde and Johnny Johnstone been hugely supportive of Environment Club efforts,” Dorogi said.
Clementine said fellow student Alexander DellOvo was the one who encouraged her to talk to the principal when she was in her pod. Later, with the support of teacher Darryl Vigliatura, Clementine presented a more formal proposal to Squier. Once Dorogi heard about it, she asked to advise the club.
At their first monthly meeting in January, club members discussed ways to increase recycling at Mayo. Several actions took place as a result, including students learning about why they should recycle; advisers clarifying what can go into school recycle bins; students creating posters to share information and encourage Mayo students to recycle, which are displayed around the school; and teachers labeling their recycle bins with a poster of what can be recycled at Mayo.
Dorogi said that when she and Severence inventoried recycle bins around the school “and found ourselves short, Environment Club parents generously donated a few smaller bins for individual classrooms.”
The February meeting’s theme was ways to reduce plastic at Mayo, and in March it was putting the group’s ideas into practice. At the March 14 meeting, students created bags made out of upcycled T-shirts that will be used at the school book fair this week in lieu of plastic bags, one of the fourth-graders’ ideas, including at the second family night on Friday, March 24, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Dorogi, who has been teaching in the school district for 13 years, 10 of which have been at Mayo, gives all the credit for the inspiration behind the club to Clementine.
“The club was 100% the brainchild of Clementine. Her initial goals were to use paper instead of plastic whenever possible, make T-shirt bags to be used at book fairs, plant trees, and get all Mayo students involved.”
The educator went on to say that she and Clementine met in late November so that she “could get a sense of her vision for the club.”
“She and I collaborated on a slideshow, which she presented to each grade four and grade five classroom to share information and promote interest in the club,” Dorogi said. “Her friend Brynn Daley went with her for moral support. Signups were in late December, and we have met monthly since January.”
She appreciates the help from Severence, and said the fifth-grade teacher “brings with her a knowledge on ways to reduce human impact on the Earth’s resources from the Massachusetts grade five science standards.”
Clementine thanks friend and fellow fourth-grader Daley for helping with her confidence and supporting her as she presented to the fourth- and fifthgrade classrooms, as well as her parents for helping her to make a realistic plan for the club and her goals.
“Clementine would also like to give a shout out to the Mayo families who donated recycling bins so that each classroom could have their own,” Dorogi conveyed.
The April and May meetings will focus on cleaning up the environment, and the club and Squier are hosting a Mayo Clean-Up Day on Sunday, April 30, from 8 to 10 a.m.
“At this point, our aim is to pick up trash and add mulch to the playgrounds, but there may be some planting involved, too,” Dorogi said. “We are currently looking into grants to fund the purchase of a tree or two.”
Interested students can talk to Dorogi or Severence about joining the club. Dorogi said that it is important to her as an educator “to help students thrive” in any way she can, including as part of the Environment Club.
“When Clementine wanted to pursue her passion of making the world a better place, I wanted to give her a platform from which to do her work. I wanted to lift her up and amplify her voice.”
