Members of the recently revitalized student org, Green Group, dedicate their free time to preserving and protecting the environment. 

Madison Laughlin, the current President, decided to run for the position her freshman year. “So I went to the first meeting and at that meeting we voted on [leadership] positions,” Laughlin said. “They were like, ‘Hey, we really need some leadership in this area,’ and I was like, ‘I live a zero-waste lifestyle, this is all I’ve dreamed of.’”

Although Laughlin was really passionate about the conservation of the environment and sustainable living, leading a new organization proved to be more of a challenge than she had expected.

“I always tried to arrange [group meetings], but I was a teeny-tiny freshman Madi, so I didn’t know how to do that,” Laughlin said. “At the first meeting we discussed different projects we would like to take on and we just really had different ideas on what direction we wanted the group to go, and so not a lot got done.”

That year, Laughlin faced many obstacles ranging from difference of opinions to being unable to spark interest among the student body. Nonetheless, she continued to dedicate her time and attention towards Green Group. 

“I decided that I was going to start small, and do something that I had already done,” Laughlin said. “Do some more research in the community and figure out what areas of the community I could reach out to that are environmentally focused.”

Now, a junior, Laughlin has gained new members and has started on bigger projects. On Saturday, August 31, Laughlin met with Provost Rick Muma to discuss the possibility of starting a community garden on campus.  

“The community garden is something that I really want Green Group to rally around,” Laughlin said. “I’ve had several students reach out to me and say ‘I’m interested in working on the garden, how can I be involved?’”

Senior Meredith Moxley is one of Green Group’s newest members. Moxley hopes the community garden will connect Green Group with the Shocker Support Locker, a student-focused food pantry located in Grace Wilkie Hall 103.

“At the support locker, it is difficult to provide fresh fruit and fresh veggies just because they’re perishable. With the community garden, we can provide those kinds of resources to people who really need it ⁠— people who don’t have the time to drive and to go get fresh produce, or the means to afford fresh produce,” Moxley said. “It’ll show that WSU does care about its students and that we can get the healthy food that we need.”

Similar to Laughlin, Moxley decided to join Green Group due to her environmental beliefs.

“It’s the Earth. We have one. We should take care of it,” Moxley said. “It’s very important to me because we should take care of the things that give back to us well.”

Green Group holds meetings at 1 p.m. every Tuesday on the second floor of the Rhatigan Student Student. Laughlin and Moxley both hope Green Group will gain new members who are willing to educate themselves on sustainable living ⁠— and who are willing to implement those teachings in their daily lives. 

“We are all very open people, it’s a very friendly group,” Moxley said. “We are just here to better ourselves, to better the Earth around us and to better each other.”