Club History

History

Est. 2016

The 2021/2022 Boca Raton Community High School (BRCHS) Environmental Club is a combination of 3 environmentally minded clubs from previous years; the Environmental Club, Our Planet Club, and STEM Club. The Environmental Club's (est. 2016) primary goals include helping Boca High investigate "green" initiatives on campus from our aquaponics garden and other outdoor classroom arrangements to school-wide waste management practices, to extend environmental awareness and education to all students, teachers, and staff, and volunteer in beach clean ups (adopted South Inlet Beach Park in Boca Raton in 2017). In 2017 student leaders of the Our Planet Club worked with the 501(3)c nonprofit organization Our Planet Inc, started by two of our very own Bobcats, Tess Flemma and John Schuttler class of 2018. Together they sponsored the construction of Boca High's high tech aquaponics system, a $14k investment, that still runs successfully today! They also raised awareness about deforestation and conducted fundraisers to help buy rainforest concessions for research and education in Peru. That same year, members traveled on a school/district sponsored field trip to the Peruvian Amazon rainforest where they shopped the local markets for items to build a similar aquaponics system in an impoverished community. Students, parents, Peruvian volunteers, and Dr. Wellman worked for 3 weeks to build the aquaponics system in the Amazon and encouraged the community to build two additional systems. Locals are currently working with the Peruvian government on aquaponics research, potentially influencing a more sustainable way of agriculture in Peru! Lastly, the STEM Club organized by students Sam Cohen and Kendall Brockelman class of 2019 sought to bring diversity in students interested in STEM. They volunteered their time to host 2 of Boca High's Science and Engineering Fairs, digital science fairs using Google Slides on Chromebooks to present research, reducing the amount of waste when the fair was over. In addition, this club took two school/district sponsored trips, the first was to a STEM event at Nova SE University and the second was a district approved international trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands in June 2019. Student leaders made the decision to merge these three clubs into one in 2019, maintaining the name "Boca High Environmental Club."

Several students also enrolled in Dr. Wellman’s AICE Environmental Management class took field trips to the Solid Waste Authority, Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge, Mounts Botanical Gardens, and to the one of a kind Platinum LEED certified Galaxy E3 Elementary School where students were instructed to write their own ecosystem stories and share them with a kindergarten class. New to 2020, students will be working with Boca Save Our Beaches (https://www.bocasob.com/) and Surfrider Foundation (https://www.surfrider.org/) on a regional water quality laboratory (more news on that to come)!!

In addition to on-campus activities, the Boca High Environmental Club club has adopted turtles, manatees, and other wildlife to support local, national, and international environmental groups. It is their efforts that helped lead Boca High to a rating of Green School of Excellence from the FAU Pine Jog Environmental Education Center (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and Green School of Quality in 2017). In addition, Boca High Environmental Club members have been recognized for several Green School special awards; 2017 Green Student of the Year (Brandon Runner class of 2018), 2018 Green Teacher of the Year (Dr. Wellman), 2018 Community Involvement, 2019 Best Green School Student Video, 2019 Best Secondary School for Sustainability, 2020 Best Student Led Initiatives sponsored by Environmental Quality, Inc., and 2020 Green Facilities Staff Member of the Year - Runner-up (Tony Amaya) sponsored by Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County. Students, teachers, and staff at Boca High are dedicated and hard working with a passion to learn about our natural environment and teach environmental sustainability.

Come join us and be a part of the solution!!!

Google Classroom: rn63xyh

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brchs.environmental/

Remind: @rwellman

Logos