Bay Club On Mission to Raise Awareness: Generation's "Biggest Problem" is an "Environmental Problem"

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 13:18:00 GMT

By Troy Crosby

The Bay Club has placed signs on light switches to notify and encourage students to save energy. While the club also plans on replacing old light bulbs in order to save over $5,000.

Little known to Wootton students, the Bay Club has been working on a project that could earn up to 5,000 dollars for an "environmental happy" Wootton High School. The club, whose mission is to boost awareness of the Chesapeake Bay and other environmental issues, has recently been working to replace current 32-watt light bulbs with new 25-watt bulbs. Each new light bulb is more energy efficient and lasts approximately twice as long as our current bulbs. The club has already installed 125 of these new light bulbs and has 625 more that are ready to be installed. The club would eventually like to convert the whole school to these new bulbs. "Bay Club could have a bigger impact on Wootton than any other club has in the past," the club's senior president Erik Bergmann said. The light bulb program is funded by MCPS’s Green Schools Focus which was created to promote environmental stewardship, and to promote the saving of energy in our schools. Not only do these new light bulbs save Wootton money, but the Green Schools Focus will return up to 5,000 dollars of the very money that was saved. The first school to attempt the light bulb switch was Churchill, last year. According to a recent article in the Gazette by Stephanie Siegel, Churchill has saved over $15,000 since last year's switching of more than 6,000 bulbs. The Bay Club was established this year and is sponsored by the AP Environmental Science teachers, Mr. John Fitz and Mrs. Judith Parsons. Despite being a new club, they already have about 40 members including 11 junior and senior officers. The club is led by Bergmann and junior Ashwini Mohan. In addition to the light bulb project, the club has also been making an effort to put laminated light switch covers on every light switch in the school to remind students and teachers to turn off lights before leaving the room. “My biggest concern is that students aren’t aware that the biggest challenge to their generation will be an environmental challenge,” said Parsons about the club’s efforts. Although closely tied to AP Environmental Science, the club is open to students of all grades. Fitz said that he would like to see a mutual benefit between AP Environment Science and the Bay Club. The club meets once a week, on Tuesdays in room 207, although every other meeting is designed for officers only. The Bay Club also desires to go on a variety of field trips. This year they have already taken a hike to Sugar Loaf Mountain, and they had a trip planned to go to the zoo. They are currently planning an indoor rock-climbing trip. "Students should join because the Bay Club really is doing great things,” Bergmann said.