New conservation club hosts flowerpot painting event
Monarchs and More club set up for painting in J-Top.
Photo credit: Natalie Guske
By Natalie Guske
Monarchs and More, Concordia’s new conservation club, hosted a flowerpot painting event in J-Top Friday morning so students could learn more about the club while creating a custom piece of dorm décor.
Senior biology major Olivia Khol founded the club last semester with the idea of practicing and promoting the preservation of nature both on Concordia’s campus and in the Seward area.
“The idea [of the club] is just to keep God’s world how He created it [by] making sure everything is clean and everyone is comfortable, including His [plant and animal] creations,” Khol said.
Monarchs and More is centered on the Concordia community and also works in partnership with the Nebraska Wildlife Federation, which provided a grant last spring to help grow campus conservation opportunities.
“We got in touch with Dr. Russ Souchek, the president of the Seward board of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation and brainstormed some ideas for what we could do this fall with our club members,” Khol said. “We have 15 new tree saplings we can potentially plant around Concordia’s campus and then we’ll hopefully try to build at least a foundation of a wildlife conservation-like area on our campus.”
Senior Emily Bonilla said that she would be interested in hearing more about what environmental causes the club would be focusing on.
“I feel like we need a lot more people to advocate for things like wildlife and forestry because those are things we need to shed more light on,” Bonilla said. “I think [this club] is a really good starting point for people to see that [the environment] is something you can actually advocate for. It’s not an [issue] that’s hush-hush or something you have to go really far to be a part of.”
Khol said the event is a good way of getting the club on students’ radars as the club starts to spread its wings.
“Honestly, this was an idea from some of our club members last spring when we first met,” Khol said. “[It’s] fun and it’s inexpensive, and it just allows our club to be more executed in letting returning and new students learn more about conservation and more about God’s creation.”
