(Secaucus, NJ––June 19, 2020) This spring, students from the Environmental Club commemorated World Wildlife Day with a series of activities including an Endangered Species Wall and an Endangered Species Locker Slam, announced Dr. Joseph A. Giammarella, Principal at High Tech High School.
The awareness campaign commenced with a Locker Slam on March 3rd––World Wildlife Day––and a school-wide moment of silence for the extinct and endangered species. On March 10th, club members prepared the Endangered Species Wall. The goal of these events was to highlight for HTHS students and staff the worldwide loss of species and to educate the community about the number, and kinds, of endangered species.
Environmental Club President Ivonne Ovalles, (HTHS ‘20) and Vice President Kate Neal (HTHS ‘21) organized the various events, overseeing the creation of the Endangered Species Wall, which highlighted species who populations have decreased, and the implementation of QR codes on lockers for the Locker Slam. Once scanned, the QR codes brought viewers to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, where students learned more about these endangered species. To ensure the event was a success, members of the Club stayed late to “slam lockers” and, later, invested time to decorate the wall.
Environmental Club Advisor, Ms. Cathy Yuhas, said of the events: “The students in the Environmental Club did a great job celebrating the species that we are losing on Earth by educating their classmates and staff about them. This is our first year highlighting World Wildlife Day and I hope that we continue to celebrate it in future years.”
You can learn more about endangered species at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
