Throughout this academic year, The Rider will explore the student organizations at UTRGV. This is the second in our series. The Rider interviewed Alesi Almaguer, president of the Environmental Awareness Club, for information.
Name: Environmental Awareness Club
President: Alesi Almaguer
Vice President: Joshua Torres
Secretary: Laura Lopez
Treasurer: Martha Garcia
Farmers Market Director: Suzanne El-Haj
Historian: Beatriss Flores
Recruitment Officer: Sheila Pate
Adviser: Stefanie Herweck, a lecturer in the Writing and Language Studies department
What is the purpose of the Environmental Awareness Club? “The Environmental Awareness Club likes to interact with the community, so we try to get a lot of support from UTRGV students and staff to just take time to look at the environment in our own communities and just help out. There’s a lot of farms in the Rio Grande [Valley] and we just try to help the farmers, because a lot of their food just perishes and that’s because no one eats it. … They’re very giving and they support us a lot like [by] donating food and such. So, we just like to inform people about their surroundings and the community, but most importantly, I think it’s for the students of UTRGV to get more involved in the community in an environmental way.”
What activities does the Environmental Awareness Club perform? “As an organization, [at] our first meeting, we try to recruit as many people as possible, because that helps with volunteering. … We try to go out to the farms a lot more often, but with not a lot of volunteers, it’s kind of hard. It would be better for us to have more volunteers and then go help the farmers. Sometimes we also hang out. … We try to go to the beach and do a cleanup. Stuff like that. We try to do cleanups here in different parts of the community. We did [a cleanup] at Quinta Mazatlan [in McAllen]. … We go walk at Quinta Mazatlan. … It’s a nice bonding activity and then other times we’ll clean and we’ll go to the centers there and help out. We try to make reusable bags out of T-shirts, so you don’t have to use so much plastic. … Our farmers market is an event we get ready for. … We get a lot of donors, so we get to sell produce. We get to sell goods made by people in our club, too.”
When and where do the Environmental Awareness Club’s general meetings take place? “The meetings take place in the Palmetto Room (ESTUN 2.418) in the Student Union on the second floor. We do our meetings on Thursdays and we’re trying to change the time this semester.”
What are the membership requirements? “Membership requirements [include being] an active student [or] staff. … [and] an interest in the club, because you want to have people that are committed to it. If you have an interest in [the club], just come check us out.”
For more information, email: alesi.almaguer01@utrgv.edu
Facebook: @eac.rgv
Instagram: @eac_rgv
–Compiled by Joahana Segundo
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