Environmental Club will host an event at the Community Garden on May 23 to celebrate Earth Day, according to club sponsor Maryellen St. Angelo. According to the Carmel Green Teen website, the Carmel Clay Schools (CCS) Community Garden is located on the grounds of Carmel Middle School, and 98 plots are available.

Earth Day, the largest civic event in the world, was celebrated yesterday, and according to Earth Day Network, its purpose is to “broaden the base of support for environmental programs, rekindle public commitment and build community activism around the world through a broad range of events and activities.”

Co-president and sophomore Maddie Adkins said the main purpose of this event is to raise awareness. St. Angelo said there will be games that have an environmental teaching aspect to them, as well as vendors such as those at the Farmer’s Market. She said the club has contacted organizations such as Hoosier Environmental Council, Carmel Green Initiative and Indiana Recycling Coalition to hold booths for families to learn information on how they can incorporate sustainability into their everyday lives. The event will also host a competition to see who can make the best art sculpture out of recycled materials. St. Angelo said  there will be prizes due to the Carmel Green Teen grant the club received. She also said in order to keep the event festive, there will be live music by an undecided student musical group from CHS.

“Basically, what we’re going to try to do is hold a community event, something that can happen every year that’ll make people excited about recycling and showing people that environmental issues and helping the environment can be fun,” Adkins said. “People in the community have been asking a lot for something like this. It’s also an opportunity for people to raise awareness about important environmental issues.”

When people attend the event, St. Angelo said they can also take the opportunity to learn and check out the Community Garden. All Carmel residents and CCS employees can own a part of the organic community garden. Owners are free to grow whatever they want on their lot and each plot costs $10 per year. The application to apply for a plot can be found on its website.

St. Angelo said the club members are hoping that people learn that they can do many simple things in their everyday lives to protect and take care of their environment.

“What I’m hoping is that people learn something new that they didn’t know before, because a lot of what we do as a club at CHS is how can we be a more efficient school, but I want somebody to come to this fair and learn how they can be more efficient at home,” Adkins said. “How can they recycle more, and what methods can they take into their lives?”

Adkins said students can make a significant impact  on their community by being environmentally friendly. Also, she said hopefully people will learn universal methods to be effectively environmentally friendly.

“I’m really passionate about the environment and taking care of the Earth, and I like to support the kids in their efforts to do the same thing,” St. Angelo said. “I think it’s great that they become empowered and take on projects like this to celebrate the Earth.”