Newtown High School Students Acting Locally

By Laurie Borst

On Tuesday afternoons in the high school Media Center, one finds global thinking occurring among the members of the Ecology Club. Kelly Lindell and Marleigh Sullivan started the club last year for ecology-minded students.

Two students who have joined the group this year, Haley Keane and Monica Warek, brought the idea of an arts festival to the club as a way to raise awareness and raise funds for the programs the club sponsors.

Haley got the idea for the Global Awareness Festival of the Arts (GAFA) after she had attended the New Haven Film Festival and the Westport Youth Film Festival. These festivals inspired her as a way to inform people on environmental issues.

GAFA will provide a venue for local talent that focus on environmental issues to display their work in the areas of film, poetry, literature, art, dance, and music. All entries will be reviewed by a panel of judges who will select winners from each category.

The organizers invite local farmers and environmentally friendly vendors to sell their wares. All proceeds will go to support the work of the Ecology Club.

The First Annual GAFA is planned for October 22, 11 am to 4 pm, at the Newtown Teen Center. Admission is a suggested donation of $2 for students and $5 for adults.

Some of the issues the club wants to tackle this year are energy conservation at the school and recycling.

The club has approximately 30 members and three advisers, Jackson Blossom, librarian, Karolyn Baumgartner, science teacher, and Jessica Blake, social studies teacher. Mr Blossom, new to NHS this year, was adviser to a recycling club at his old school.

“The students are interested in forming an energy committee. They want to raise awareness of environmental issues and animal rights,” Mr Blossom said. “It’s great to see student activism.”