Gallery • 6 Photos

Eliza Vargas

Spreading awareness around Downey High on the importance of maintaining our environment, Catherine Quinones, treasurer of the Eco Club,10 joined the club in hopes of being a wake up call to all her peers on how to help make the world a better place. “As a club we wanted to bring awareness to topics one could easily ignore,” Quinones said. “While at the same time have fun in doing so. By engaging these little projects it not only brought enjoyment to others but highlighted what remains behind closed doors.”

Downey high’s ecology club held a week long environmental awareness event from Apr 29- May 3. Each day of the week entails a different activity that is related to the environment. Eco club was created in an effort help the evironmental issues caused.

Monday

Ecology club had a table filled with small rocks and variety of colored paints and googly eyes. Students were encouraged to paint their rocks with their own designs and take them home to be placed in gardens.

President of Ecology club, Tori Quiñones,11, speaks on the main goal for Ecology clubs event-week.  

“The goal for this week’s event is to help spread awareness at Downey High. Our generation will be the path for a brighter future. We want to make our classmates and peers more aware of the environment,” Quiñones. “The more people that know, the more changes we can make to help save the environment.”      

Tuesday

Students decorated green paper leaves and stapled them to a cardboard tree that the eco club created prior to the event.  Many students came to write inspirational quotes and drawings to interpret their love for the environment.

Catherine Quinones, 9, Treasurer for Ecology club speaks on where her passion for the environment stems from.

“My passion for the environment would be the fact of how much I want to make a difference in the community to which I stand. I understand how much harm is being done to which environment due to our actions which are very costly,” Quinones said. “One has to be willing to pay the price which comes to why I joined eco club. I joined to help be part of the solution for a better tomorrow, to restore the environment and to be able to know that i’m doing something that will  make a difference for the better.”

Wednesday and Thursday

The club set up a table and created planting pots with used water containers, the bottles were flipped and inserted upside down into other containers. They planted carrots and other small manageable plants that were distributed to students.

Jasmine Vallejo community outreach eco club member, 9, speaks on what being in ecology has done to her life.

“It has opened my eyes on how much humans have taken part in the destruction of our Earth. Ecology club has also brought to my attention how one disregards the negative impact we have on the environment,” Vallejo said.

Friday

They showcased a large metal recycling cage shaped like a fish, the recycling container was created in an effort to show students that helping the environment and recycling can be fun and creative.

Vivian Longoria, 12, a student who participated in the viewing of the recycling container, speaks on recycling.

“Water bottles do so much damage to the earth, there’s a whole island in the ocean made of trash,” Longoria said. “Im happy they are showing the younger students that like recycling is cool.”

Each activity inspired Downey High students and staff to become attuned with the environment in an effort to reverse the damage caused in past centuries.