Sustainability Club, run by President Gabriela Sevilla and a board of seven others, is going into their third year of helping Oakmont students become more aware of their environmental impact. 

“Sustainability Club is obviously a club about sustainability,” Sevilla said. “But more specifically we like to focus on environmental issues and spread awareness about that in our school.” 

Sustainability Club’s goal is to educate their members on different environmental topics such as plastic pollution, intersectional environmentalism, fast fashion, and many other issues.

In the past, Sevilla has achieved this goal by giving presentations to club members on these issues, with an occasional presentation by another board member. Sustainability Club has even allowed members to design informative posts for their Instagram, @ohssustainabilityclub. 

“For a long time our purpose in meetings was to do lessons about environmental topics, environmental issues that are happening, the current news, and all that stuff,” Sevilla said.

This year, however, Sustainability Club is shifting their approach in an attempt to make their meetings more engaging and student-friendly.

“It’s going to be less emphasized on instructional stuff and spreading awareness, and more of a hands-on approach,” Sevilla said. “We’re hoping to have a lot more projects this year.”

Sustainability Club is anticipating more service opportunities for the club’s members as a part of this new approach.

“We’ve done service in the form of helping plant stuff in communities and helping school programs at ReCreate,” Sevilla said. “We’ve done fundraisers before for environmental nonprofit organizations.”

Sustainability Club has even installed a recycling bin at Oakmont for student and staff use. This bin is located near the cafeteria and helps the club raise money for their future endeavors.

Additionally, Sustainability Club has worked with other clubs – such as a collaboration with Fashion Club and Thrift Club – to put on a second-hand clothes pop-up shop in hopes to broaden their sustainable outreach and impact. 

This year, Sustainability Club will be working with many more clubs as they focus on their new hands-on approach to spreading their message regarding environmental awareness. 

Sustainability Club meets on Wednesdays after school in room P-15. Their first meeting of the year is on Sept. 14th, so stop by and learn more about how to get involved with this amazing club!