The students give back to their environment by attending workshop days along with other beneficial activities they are involved in.

The Ecology Club hosted a workday on January 29 at Waubansee Woods south of Riverside Brookfield High School. The workday allows the people involved with the Ecology Club to restore the woods that have previously been limiting the nature of the land.

The students have a task in cutting or eliminating certain plants in the woods.

“We cut buckthorn because it’s an invasive species,” said sophomore Andres Resto.

An invasive species is non-native to the ecosystem under consideration and whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

“This is a problem because buckthorn spreads rapidly and takes all of the space that should go to the native plants,” said Resto.

The buckthorn needs to be taken down so the native plants of the forests can thrive.

“We cut and burn buckthorn so that we can reduce the native plant being taken by buckthorn and restore it to the limited native plants we have,” said Resto.

If you are interested in attending these workdays days, all you need to do is to ask Mr. Monti (Room 199) and grab a permission slip if there are any workday days in the future.

RB students from Ecology Club and Zoology Club attend these workdays days, but if you are not in either, they still encourage any student to participate.

“As a group of students who want to help their environment, restoring the forest is the least we can do from the previous destruction of the ecosystem,” said Resto.

The experience with participating in the workshops is rewarding for the students.

“It’s fun, but it’s work. Knowing you are helping your community is worth any work that you are doing,” said Resto.

The Ecology Club does not only these workday days, but also other activities to help reshape our world.

“It varies what we work on,  currently we are working towards recycling and reduction of water waste,” said Resto.

The Ecology Club is a beneficial club for students knowledge and giving back to our environment.

“I would encourage people to join Ecology Club because it brings awareness to all the problems that we add a community are blind to,” said Resto.