A student and her friends walk down Deerfield Beach on Saturday morning, trudging along in the soft sand, shells and rocks tumbling up and down with the waves. Behind them, they drag trash bags, filled halfway with various cans, plastic bags and bottles. As she laughs and leans down to grab a cap, she feels content knowing that she is helping the environment.

The Climate Change Club at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is constantly working to improve the environment through its passionate members and thought-driven events, like beach clean-ups. The club hosts two to three beach clean-ups every school year, through which they collect up to 21 pounds of trash. Climate Change Club has been spreading awareness about taking care of the planet since 2017. The club has two presidents, seniors Constanza Lamaison and Julia Iuchyk.

This school year, club members have participated in multiple events centered around helping the environment.

On Saturday, Feb. 22, the Climate Change Club partnered with MSD’s National Honor Society to hold a beach clean-up at Deerfield Beach from 10-11:30 a.m. In total, they collected 19.7 pounds of litter.

“We also do our cleanups in collaboration with NHS, usually just so we can get more people to come and actually help pick up trash,” Iuchyk said.

The club meets once a month on Tuesdays. During their meetings, club officers present a slideshow that discusses club updates and current climate issues. The club encourages members to recycle, take shorter showers, reduce meat consumption and use less plastic. They also host fun, collaborative activities for members, including rock painting, pumpkin painting and poster painting—all while using sustainable,
natural paints.

The club also hosts movie nights in Marjory’s Garden, where they watch movies like “Wall-E,” “The Lorax” and other films focused on preserving the environment. Students pay a fee of $5 to attend, which also includes food and drink. The club then donates these proceeds to Gumbo Limbo—a national park and reserve in Boca Raton.

Climate Change Club is sponsored by Advanced Placement World History teacher Devin Schaller. He, along with the club’s officers and members, aim to spread awareness about climate change and the various ways it can be prevented.

“Eight years ago, in 2017, I had a student who was particularly concerned about environmental issues, and asked me to be the teacher to host the club, and I’ve hosted this club ever since then,” Schaller said.

On Instagram (@msdclimatechangeclub), the club regularly posts tips on ways to reduce microplastic pollution, partake in eco-friendly activities and implement sustainable hacks for the holidays. These posts help students be more aware of the different ways they can help prevent climate change at an individual level. In addition to promoting their club on Instagram, they also advertise at school events to get more incoming and current students to join.

“To influence new people to join our club, we rely heavily on events like Freshmen Invasion and Curriculum Night,” Lamaison said. “Apart from that, we make use of our social media to gain a following and attract members.”

Two major donation events Climate Change Club held this year were the Halloween costume donation drive and the floss donation drive, the latter of which was for MSD’s Day of Service and Love on Feb. 14.

The Halloween costume donation drive reduced the waste from Halloween costumes being thrown away by instead giving them to children at the Children’s Home Society of Florida. All costumes donated, including dance costumes, had to be in good condition to be accepted. Each donating student received four service hours per costume.

The floss donation drive was held so that floss could be put in self-care pouches created by students for first responders. The bags were handed out by student volunteers at a breakfast dedicated to law enforcement on Feb. 14.

On Earth Day, April 22, the Climate Change Club served finger foods in the cafeteria to reduce the plastic waste created by forks, spoons and their packaging. The club is now focused on wrapping up their year on an impactful note.

“As the year comes to a close, we are planning on executing at least one more beach clean-up, as well as holding an end-of-year party for our members in room 1516,” Lamaison said.

Climate Change Club is not the only club at MSD dedicated to protecting the environment either. Project Moana is a fairly new club at MSD, having hosted multiple beach cleanups since it was started this year. The club is run by junior Romi Samara, who founded the club, and junior Isabella Shields. The goal of Project Moana is to clean-up the trash and plastic found on beaches and in the ocean.

“I moved to Hawaii temporarily, and I saw all the pollution and the contaminated waters and I decided that when I came back to Florida, I would start a mission to help our beaches get cleaner,” Samara said. “I was motivated to do something I could see the difference in rather than just the idea.”

In their after-school meetings, the club informs members about upcoming projects and hosts activities. For example, during their meeting on Earth Day, they decorated buckets with paint and played ocean trivia. On the following Sunday, Project Moana hosted their most recent beach cleanup at Deerfield Beach, where they collected trash in the decorated buckets.

“It’s always sad to see that everyone loves the beach, but not a lot of people clean up after themselves, you would be surprised at how much trash you can find in less than 10 minutes,” Project Moana member Isabella Cubillas said.

The club is hosted by science teacher Bryce Burgess in room 1307. On their Instagram @project_moana, run by sophomore Angelina Johnson, they update students about upcoming meetings and clean-ups.

“We’re always having to post for the events that we hold or the after school meetings,” Johnson said. “We post pictures of the events and the
buckets that we painted.”

In the future, Project Moana plans on having a kickback at Playa Bowls, as well as an end of year party. They are additionally hoping to host more clean-ups, including one on Loxahatchee.

“We’re also going to have a clean-up besides the beach,” Samara said. “We’re thinking about doing somewhere like Loxahatchee because it’s the Everglades and it still needs protection.”

Climate Change Club and Project Moana have both dedicated themselves to making MSD students more aware of environmental problems, and how they can help combat them. Learning about the current climate crisis and hosting clean-up events allows students to become more informed and responsible about their eco-footprints.

This story was originally published in the May 2025 Eagle Eye print edition.