For over a year, John DickinsonHigh has had at least one activity a month to help theenvironment, including an adopt-a-highway clean-up, planting aflower garden and a stream-watch as well as hikes, aHuman-i-Tees fund raiser and, of course, pizzaparties.

At our road clean-up we found many interestingitems while collecting seven big bags of trash. To ouramazement we found an old Army box containing severalsuspicious items we turned in to the police. We recycled twobags of aluminum cans and finished the warm afternoon admiringour job well done.

For our stream-watch we collectedrocks and water samples from a nearby stream and ran tests tosee if the stream was healthy. We checked the pH and assessedhow pure the water was. On the rocks, we looked for insectsand other life. We found a lot of caddis flies, their eggs andforms of algae. When done, we returned the unused samples tothe perfectly healthy stream.

To brighten up ourschool and community, we planted a flower garden. We usedbulbs left over from our flower sales and, after planting thegarden, layered the top with shredded leaves. It made a nicecover which will help fertilize and produce beautiful flowersin the spring.

Our first fund raiser was sellingHuman-i-Tees products, including clothing, posters andjewelry. This was very profitable for our organization.

We hope to have more support from our school in thefuture. We want to add recycling bins soon, have a beachclean-up and camping trip, more nature walks and whatever ittakes to bolster our environmental club. It's not just theseclubs that can help the community, but all of you, as well.So, get out and help your environment - you can make adifference.