The Hawthorne High School Ecology Club visited Washington Elementary School on Friday, October 25, 2013 to inform them about the environment.

During the trip, the members of the Ecology Club talked to 3rd graders about the concepts of food chains and food webs. The club members focused on how these things are important in maintaining healthy ecosystems. The Ecology Club members also engaged in educational activities with the students including creating a food web. The 3rd graders did this by drawing and labeling plants and animals. After this, the Washington students were able to form their own food web by individually representing a different organism.

To represent the negative aspects of the environment, such as pollution, every student held a string and was instructed to drop it once they felt another student let go. Eventually, every student had dropped the string. This activity portrayed to the students how all organisms are connected.

Scott Crimmel, Ecology Club adviser, said, “The 3rd graders always enjoy having the high-schoolers present lessons and participate in various activities. I have a great crew this year, so this lesson (and future lessons) went quite well.”

Hayley Cimillo, member of the Ecology Club, stated, “I enjoyed this trip because we were able to expose the younger generation to the inhabitants of our environment.”