Two Sophomores Team Up to Make Flagler More Eco-Friendly

By Natalie Shaw

Mother Nature shines her appreciative light on Flagler College with the induction of a future group of dedicated environmental scientists.

The club’s unofficial title is “Natural Sciences Club.” It will be established at the start of the 2022-23 school year.

Working closely alongside the Natural Sciences Club are Dr. Greg Miller, a natural sciences professor at Flagler College, and John Woldridge, a lab manager at Flagler College, who act as its advisors.

Carly Shaw, a Flagler College sophomore, is running for president of the club. Shaw plans on implementing environmental change, especially around the college campus.

“The entire initiative of the club is to raise environmental awareness through education and advocacy. Activities we are going to partake in are beach cleanups, a lot of hikes, trying to get environmental speakers and going to education centers,” Shaw said.

Shaw also plans to work with other environmental-related clubs to achieve similar goals. Particularly, the acting president of the Dive Club, which will become Venture Club at the start of Flagler’s 2022-23 school year, Rory McElduff.

“McElduff is planning a lot of hikes,” Shaw said. “We could bring environmental education into the hikes and talk about ecology when we’re out at different parks.”

Shaw has made it one of her goals to work with others and create a more efficient, sustainable recycling program than the current practices that exist at Flagler.

“As soon as something gets going, the students leave,” Shaw said. “Making sure that bringing people in the club that are underclassmen or who will eventually be leaders of this club (is important) so that they can continue the initiative after we leave.”

The board of Natural Sciences Club will also include Izzi Lindon, a Flagler College sophomore, who is running as the outreach coordinator.

As outreach coordinator, Lindon will be meeting with individuals such as educational speakers and organization leaders.

“I want to try to somehow work with the school to implement a recycling program because we don’t currently have a sufficient system,” Lindon said.

Before her graduation in 2024, Lindon’s goal is to make an impact by developing a recycling program that has lasting effects at the Flagler campus.

“I will actively work with the president to implement eco-friendly programs within the school: pushing for a better recycling program, promoting the ever-so-often occurring beach clean ups and more,” Lindon said.

Jake Van Clief, a Flagler College sophomore and the future vice president of Dive Club or “Venture Club,” supports the goals presented by the Natural Sciences Club.

While the two clubs are separate, Van Clief and McElduff will work jointly with Shaw and Lindon in order to reach a further audience and make Flagler more environmentally-friendly.

“I think one of the most important things for people to know about Earth is the fact that it’s our only one, and if we continue to damage it or destroy it, we have nowhere else to go,” Van Clief said.

Once the Natural Sciences Club is officially established, they will be welcoming anyone at Flagler College to join who has a passion for improving the environment and preserving the Earth.

“Look around. You can read all the articles you want, but if you just walk outside and look, you can see the differences from your childhood: the birds that lose their habitats from deforestation, the oil that kills turtles when there’s a big oil spill . . . The list goes on. It’s easy enough to see for yourself that this Earth is hurting,” Van Clief said.