Summer is here! With its arrival, some students are kicking into summer classes while others kicking into vacation mode. But there are those who aren’t spending the summer as a break―instead, they are building something more.
This summer marks one year that the Social Justice Club (SJC) has kept up with a monarch butterfly way-station, located out on the west side of the campus. After surviving Iowa’s “lovely” winter weather, milkweed and Iowa-native wildflowers returned during the spring. In late May, a monarch was spotted flying around, and SJC member Amy Prochaska found multiple eggs that she is now raising, some having already hatched, with one even molting! Social Justice Club’s goal is to release around 25 (or more) monarchs this year.
Another club that sides with nature is on the rise. The Sacred Grove is a new club formed by students Micki Anderson and Jackie Hudnell late in the 2019 spring semester, but that isn’t stopping them from making big plans. The club is for like-minded individuals interested in nature and also nature-based spirituality paths, and currently has an herb garden growing amongst the SJC’s way-station. Along with the herbs are some fruits and vegetables that they will be donating to The Woods, a food pantry within Boone DMACC that provides students with donated groceries and personal supplies.
For more information on the activities of Social Justice Club, contact Christine Whitney at cwhitney@dmacc.edu.
For more information on the activities of The Sacred Grove, contact Micki Anderson at mlanderson14@dmacc.edu or Jackie Hudnell at jlmeans1@dmacc.edu.