Kecoughtan Ecology Club participates in Pre-Earth Day celebration

Kecoughtan High School Ecology Club students Darius McCallum, Alexia Jennings, Andy Owen, Hailey Nguyen, and Travis Rivers participated in the NASA eClips Pre-Earth Day celebration. The team of students, under the direction of Sally Lewis and Sandra Hooper, decided on two hands-on, Earth-friendly activities they wanted to share with participants of the virtual event. 

The club members spent several club meetings planning and producing two videos that illustrated the activities: “Planting with a Purpose” and “For the Birds.” In the “Planting with a Purpose” video, Darius and Alexia showed how common household items can be upcycled to make attractive planters. In the “For the Birds” video, Darius demonstrates how to repurpose everyday materials to make a bird feeder. The videos were broadcast to 539 youth and adults from across the country and Mexico at 10:40 a.m. on Tuesday, April 18. Darius and Lewis were also on hand during the virtual session to answer questions from attendees who were hard at work making planters and bird feeders in their homes and schools. Students from the Wallaby School in Mexico enjoyed the activities so much, they sent a thank you email with pictures of their students making bird feeders that were placed around the school grounds. The Ecology Club would like to thank Ms. Becca LeCompte for her assistance with the videos.

The passionate Kecoughtan students applied their academic knowledge achieved through classes and their participation in the Ecology Club to make connections with a diverse community of learners. Not only did the KHS students have a positive impact on the webinar participants, they empowered the participants to make positive contributions in their own communities. Through their involvement in the NASA Pre-Earth Day event, the KHS students had a real-world opportunity through which they developed the skills outlined in Hampton City School’s Portrait of a Graduate.