The Newport Student Conservation Association (SCA) was started by two friends and sophomore students: Kasey Northrop and Hadley Frank. They'd bonded in Earth Science class over their mutual love of the environment and decided that together they'd meet up on weekends to clean out the local ponds and lakes to alleviate them from all the garbage that had been tossed over the years. It started as a passion project between two friends and quickly grew as they realized they could turn it into a school club. The following year the Newport Student Conservation Association was an official after-school activity other students joined in on the fun and offered plenty of new suggestions.
In the years that followed, the club expanded and its influence grew even larger! Our club was inspiring other schools in the area to try similar activities. In 2016, some of the different club presidents from local schools came together and decided that it would be best for everybody if we all formed one big community group. This made it easier for everybody to come together to plan activities and cleanup events so we weren't bumping into each other by accident and made for a more inclusive community.
Now, we meet at the local library twice a week after school to get together and discuss any upcoming events and activities we can come up with as well as discuss new ways to involve our community in conservation efforts. We also strive to get together on Saturdays, but not to discuss things, to take action! Our weekends are devoted to at least one of our many cleaning endeavors: lake cleanups, trail restoration, our local ranger program, and park cleanups. During the school day, some of our students will also volunteer at an elementary school in their school district during their free periods to teach younger kids about conservation and the environment to inspire them in the future as well!
The Newport Student Conservation Association is open to any high school student in the Newport area who has a passion for the outdoors and saving and protecting our environment. As long as you're able to make it to the meetings and join us for some of our events, we'd be glad to have you as a fellow environmental steward!
As the next generation of conservation leaders in our community and our world at large, we strive to do the following:
President: Kristin Joseph
Vice-President: Liam Barnes
Secretary: Bella Granger
Treasurer: Tawnie London
Jessa Arthur
Dustin Ball
Ron Crawford
Daniel Everest
Matthew Farmer
Nick Harvey
Allison Hawk
Alexis Hunter
Riley Indigo
Hope Lockwood
Shaun Mayer
Frannie Mills
Iris Parris
Cece Prescott
Theo Rogers
Shay Samuels
Chandler Small
Amber Talbot
Cora Wheelock
