The Environmental Youth Coalition, known shortly as EYC, is using the excitement leading up to April Break to present their biggest event of the year in hopes that they can raise awareness about the environmental issues we face in our world, as well as spread helpful knowledge and tips that can help anybody make a difference in our world today.
Earth Week is a yearly event for EYC where, for a week, events like raffles, giveaways, pot painting, and other fun activities are presented throughout the week. This year, Earth Week spanned from April 13-17, where events like charity raffles, tote bag giveaways, cement block painting, and pot painting were activities held to promote environmental awareness as well as encourage the students at NHS to get more involved with helping the environment.
“We’ve done an Earth Week for the last several years,” said Allison Leichtman, who is currently the Faculty Advisor for EYC.
“We try to promote sustainability and environmental awareness and help both Norwood Students at Norwood High and the people in the Norwood community be more aware of the impact of their environmental decisions and help both reduce their carbon footprints and raise awareness about the problems in our environment and the environmental crisis,” Leichtman said.
EYC has also done other successful events in the past to further promote their mission of sustainability and environmental awareness at NHS and the rest of the Norwood community.
“We’ve also done the Equal Exchange fundraiser around the holiday time for the last few years, where we’ve sold sustainably produced food for sustainable holiday gifts. We’ve also brought in some educational events for students as well as attend conferences where students could learn about the environment and how they can both reduce their carbon impact, as well as learn about different career paths that could help them get involved in environmental studies,” Leichtman said.
EYC was able to start Earth Week out strong by giving out tote bags in the main lobby on Monday morning to promote sustainability and reduce plastic usage. EYC also started their raffle, where if students donated a dollar, they could receive a raffle ticket and hopefully be chosen to win a surprise mystery bag during the raffle pulling on Friday Morning of that same week. EYC, being a non-profit organization, will donate any money that they receive from the raffle to the charity Hoops2O who hope to ensure clean water for all in the world.
During WIN block on Tuesday, EYC displayed a video about the environmental crisis today and tips on how people can reduce their energy use in even the smallest ways possible.
“The video that we’re going to show during WIN Block on Tuesday highlights some tangible things that students can do and hopefully will help them highlight small steps they can take in their daily lives to reduce their energy use,” Leichtman said.
Then, after school on Wednesday at 3:30 pm, student volunteers, EYC members, and Impact Norwood Ambassadors met at Father Mac’s Field to help paint large cement blocks, which they also helped prep the week before, to bring positive messages and imagery to the Germany Brook trail. The Block Painting Event was a collaboration between both EYC and Impact Norwood.
“We have been looking for ways to get the youth out and kind of give back in a fun way to the community and just be involved,” Connor Brosnan said.
Connor Brosnan is the Program Director for Impact Norwood and was the one to approach EYC with the idea of collaborating on the Block Painting Event and making it an event for Earth Week.
“Norwood EYC has been very helpful because we’ve been trying to do this for about a year now,” Brosnan said.
“Then we were having trouble getting it organized to get people out here. So [EYC] reached out to us and they’ve been really helpful in kind of organizing the event and making a really cool flyer and getting people out here,” Brosnan said.
Brosnan overall wanted to encourage more people and youth to come out and contribute to their community in a positive manner through powerful and positive messaging and artwork. Brosnan also highlights how he wants the contributions made by Norwood Youth to be beneficial to the community and daily walkers of the trail in some type of way.
“I think people are stressed out for a variety of reasons. And I think just kind of taking a walk in the woods is beneficial to most people, but then taking a walk in the woods and also seeing this really cool messaging and artwork that was done by youth in the community kind of raises your mood even more,” Brosnan said.
The Block Painting Event made a significant impact on all who volunteered and painted their own blocks as well as EYC members who wanted to make a significant difference to the Norwood community through events like this one.
“People here, they like nature,” said EYC Co-President Sylvia Caparrotta.
“I always see people outside, like admiring it, and I can tell that people here have a genuine passion for the outdoors. I just hope to bring some environmental awareness and make this Norwood a little better, a little greener,” said Caparrotta.
While Caparrotta, along with other EYC officers and members, helped plan the event and participate in it, many volunteers came and helped out as well.
“I just hope that when people walk down this path, they know that there are people in the community that actually truly care about them and that there’s places for them to actually get help if they need help,” said volunteer and Impact Norwood Youth Leader Joann Yamoah.
Yamoah, along with volunteer and Youth Ambassador for Impact Norwood Maryam Ozodova, painted onto their cement block the number for the crisis helpline, which is a number that you can call in case you need help or just someone to talk to when you’re struggling.
“These are volunteers that want to help people and want to listen to their problems,” Yamoah said.
EYC also brought back one of their most popular Earth Week events, where students, on Thursday during WIN Block, signed up to come to the courtyard, paint their own custom plant pot, and plant their own seeds, which they could take home and care for as it grows.
Lastly, as their last event to wrap up Earth Week, EYC is partnering up with Student Council and other members of the Norwood community to organize a cleanup at NHS and other parts of Norwood from 10 to 11:30 AM on Sunday, April 26.
Through Earth Week and its various events, EYC has tried its best to promote sustainability and reduce energy use to students as well as spread awareness about the environmental crisis we are facing right now and how we can make a difference in helping that crisis.
“I think if even just some students at Norwood High School have a better understanding of the environmental crisis and something tangible they can do to help offset their own carbon footprint, we will call it a victory,” Leichtman said.
