Central students thinking green

A group of 50 students at Central High School have gone “green” and are proud of it. As part of the school’s EnviroCENTRAL club, formerly known as the Environmental Club, these students are ready to clean up and make their community better one can or piece of litter at a time.

“The members of the EnviroCENTRAL voice their opinions and take action to show their care for the environment,” said Edmond Weiss, an 11th-grade student and the club’s historian and public relations officer.

With a clean-up last month of Fletcher Avenue, they are making good on their mission. Thirty-five students met outdoors to pick up trash along the road, several side streets and the nearby parking lot of a bank. Under the guidance of their club advisors, earth science teachers Katie Anderson and Kerri Guzzardo, the students not only did a thorough job of picking up litter, but also “set a positive example to their peers walking home from school,” the advisors noted.

But the group’s annual fall and spring clean-up on Fletcher Avenue is just one facet of what the students do since the club started about a dozen years ago. “The club offers not only opportunities to clean up the Valley Stream community,” Weiss said, “it also allows students to voice their opinions about the environment around them and creates a forum to discuss solutions.

“The environment of the Valley Stream community is filled with pollution, which in turn affects the habitats of nature’s creatures and us,” Weiss added. “There are many who bombard the streets with cans, papers, plastics and other harmful substances. These substances are often non-biodegradable and linger in the environment for a long period of time.”

Started by former Central science teacher Carol Schaeffer, the members believe that the club provides a need in the community for a cleaner environment. With its recent name change, the club, which meets every Friday, is becoming a permanent fixture in the Central community. According to Weiss, the name change reflects the pride that the students have in the club and it demonstrates that the club has become a part of the positive citizenship that Central instills in its students.