Fresh Club gives students hope for the environment

As the urgency of climate change continues to increase, it is easy to feel helpless about our future, especially for young students. It seems that there is nothing that we can do to change the trajectory of our planet. But Fossil Ridge High School’s Fresh Club aims to help students learn about climate change and get involved in ways to help.

Fresh Club allows students to get connected with peers that share a common interest in environmental problems and how to fix them. Teacher advisor, Leslie Smyser, says, “We want to educate students about environmental issues, and give them an outlet. So you don’t just feel like it’s all bad news.”

The club meets every other Wednesday at lunch, in room N104, to discuss upcoming events, such as trash cleanups, and to share recent news involving climate change and the environment.

Smyser inherited the club from Nick Peterson, a former Fossil counselor who now works at the Futures Lab. She was excited to take on the club because of her passion for caring for the organisms around us. On top of the club’s mission, she also loves working with the students and getting to watch them work to make change.

“It’s not fair. You’ve been given a problem that you’re going to have to fix. And that’s really not okay,” Smyser commented.

While Smyser is the teacher sponsor for the club, the group is led by three co-presidents, Kelsey Drysdale, Ella Howe, and Shravya Anikapati. They are in charge of making the slides that guide each meeting, as well as planning events for the organization.

After joining her freshman year, Howe stated, “I just really fell in love with the club.” Howe remarked that she was excited by the fact that she would be making an impact when it came to environmental issues.

Anikapati remembers feeling excited to learn about the future of sustainability. “I like being involved in the school and our community and having a positive influence on it.”

“I thought it would be a good opportunity to help impact our community,” added Drysdale.

As the year comes to a close, the club has been preparing to attend the Environmental Leadership Summit, which is taking place at Colorado State University this year, on April 15. When Peterson was in charge of Fresh club, the Summit was hosted at Fossil, however, Peterson now holds the Summit at CSU. The event is open to any students who are interested in being leaders in the fight against climate change.

Students who are interested in the club are welcome to attend any of the meetings. Smyser encourages anyone to come, “You can come as many or as few times as you want.” The club does allow students to earn hours for honor credit, however, that is not a requirement for being a part of the club.