Marco Island Academy has a new club! Environmental Conservation Organization, or E.C.O. Club, focuses on protecting the environment. With the school being located on such a beautiful island, we’re surrounded by a unique environment. The club meets in Mr.Wolfe’s classroom after school every other Wednesday, when students attend these meetings they are able to look outside the window and see the beautiful environment this club focuses on protecting. They discuss the environmental issues in their local community or learn about environments like wetlands and estuaries. They can then take this information they learn in the classroom and apply it to their field-trips. 

E.C.O Club takes the students on field trips outside of school, where the students are given the opportunity to meet professionals in the environmental and related fields and are able to get hands-on experience. An example of one of these field trips is their excursion to Tigertail Beach earlier this year. These students were able to meet and talk to professional marine biologists. Students asked questions like:  “How did you end up as a marine biologist?”, “How do you identify different mangroves?”, and “How can I get more involved?”. The students were able to meet a field biologist named Brittany, who taught the group how to identify different species of birds and discussed what she does in her career.

The students walked in a local estuary and were able to see the difference in mangroves with the help of a marine biologist named Trish. After this experience, students were able to take a trawling net into the water and use it to catch a variety of marine life and animals. Some examples of these animals are seahorses, small fish, shrimp, and crabs. They were then able to put these animals into tanks while they tried to identify them with the helpful guides that the field leaders brought for them. To end this trip, they ate lunch as a group while learning about the sea turtles in Florida.

On the home front, E.C.O has done a variety of activities located at the school. Since becoming an official club at the school, the club has started an experiment by putting red mangrove propagules at different levels at saltines. They’ve been taking photos and recording the growth of these mangroves. The club has also motivated the school into buying recycling bins for the lunch area and around the school. E.C.O. club members are also planning to paint local wildlife on these bins. This club is just getting started, and is excited to continue making a difference in our local environment. If a student wants to get involved they could come to the ECO Club’s meetings every other Wednesday, for more information about dates they could ask Mr.Swope.