After an eventful first semester of cutting down trees and going to the zoo,  our very own Ecology Club has many more events planned for this second semester. Ecology Club meets every Monday at 3:00 p.m. in Mr. Pozen’s classroom, and they are always welcoming new members.

Mr. Pozen, the club sponsor, states that the “healthy number [of members in the club] is about 20.” To him, the purpose of this club is to “experience the natural world, rather than the brick world we live in.” Not only that, but he wants his club members to go to zoos and to forest preserves and of course to “do volunteer work to give back.”

Joseph Capozzi, senior, states that his favorite thing about the club was “going and cutting down trees” with his friends. In addition, he stated that he feels like a “lumberjack watching all those tall trees fall.”

Brian Brod, senior, likes the “ rewarding feeling of accomplishment after a trip.”

All of their activities, if not most, are accomplished over the weekends. Their most recent, noted by senior Gino Cangialosi, was going to a forest preserve to “cut down invasive species.”

Now, Ecology Club isn’t just about going to forest preserves and cutting down trees. Even though most of what they do involves getting down and dirty in the forest, they also do many activities such as going to the zoo or the Shedd Aquarium. Matthew Brod, senior, explains that they recently “went to the zoo” where they “ got see a lot of unique animals, [his] favorite being the giraffes.”

Capozzi states that he found out about the club from “friends of [his] who were in it” as well as stating that “ecology club is different from most clubs.” Brian agrees with Capozzi stating that “this club is definitely different from any other clubs that [he’s] currently in simply because of the field trips [they] go on.” Cangialosi also supports this because “in no other club can you cut down trees with a handsaw” which can be pretty cool.

This semester they have many events planned such as cleaning the Des Plaines River, learning to recognize frog calls in which they’ll be going out and actually putting their skills to the test as well as a trip to a museum. Just like Matthew states, “If you are a person that likes to go on field trips this is definitely the club for you!”