By Rebecca Groat and Jake Foley
The Port Macquarie and Albury Environmental Science Club (Enviro Club) is a small, yet mighty club that aims to make a difference to our university.
Although aimed at Environmental Science and Management students, we welcome all Charles Sturt students who are interested in making our campus a little more sustainable, hanging out with like-minded peers and going on adventures!
Rebecca:
The Enviro club started in 2022, the same year I (Becky) started my Environmental Science degree.
Joining as a new student, I was embraced by second-and third-year members and immediately drawn to the club’s tight-knit community.
It provided a space where students from different years, courses, and backgrounds could unite for a common purpose: sustainability.
Through the club, I formed close bonds with classmates, especially those who didn’t live on campus and lacked opportunities to socialise outside of class.
Two years later, the Enviro Club thrives, and so do the relationships I’ve cultivated within it. Over the last two and a half years, the Albury Enviro Club has achieved many goals.
We have extended sugar glider habitat through vegetation planting, put up nesting boxes, created hives for native bees, planted campus veggie-patches, attended bird walks and participated in many volunteering opportunities.
Every year, we volunteer for NSW Environment and Heritage in putting up habitat boxes for the endangered pygmy possum.
As a club, we raised funds to adopt a Koala from the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital and are planning on running a bake-sale to adopt a platypus!
We are a very social club that wants to enhance campus culture and create a space where each student can be themselves. We have gone on many hiking and camping trips and last year, ran the first “Passing the Whale” event since pre-Covid.
This year, we are joining up with our Enviro Club friends in Port Macquarie to go on a snow trip to Falls Creek. The Albury Enviro Club is also planning on doing a surf trip in Port Macquarie.
Jake Foley, a third year Environmental Science and Management student has been a part of the Port Macquarie Enviro Club for two years.
Jake:
Although reasonably new, the Port Macquarie Enviro Club has been able to provide some fantastic opportunities for interested students on campus.
We have planted trees around campus, collaborated with local clubs such as the Hastings Bird Watchers and celebrated biodiversity month with birdwatching, and generally communicated other volunteer or job opportunities.
The club has plans to celebrate biodiversity month again this year with a bat watching night planned for August, and to continue to communicate new opportunities for students to network and meet with potential future employers.
On a more serious note, the Enviro Club has given me and other students countless opportunities to build life-skills and a future career.
Rebecca:
The 2nd and 3rd year Albury students were invited to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water Southwest Threatened Species Forum, where we interacted with some of the top conservation organisations in NSW.
In 2023 and 2024, I overtook the role as Club President, and have loved the experience.
I have worked as a Sustainability Advisor at Albury campus and worked as a Research Assistant for the Bidgee Monitoring, Evaluation and Research team- all through recommendations of being in the club.
If you’re an Environmental Science student or a little sustainability-minded and love to go on adventures, I would recommend joining our Enviro Club!
Click here to join the Enviro club!
