BY ALICIA FEYERHERM
Fort Hays State’s Biology Club met on Monday evening in Albertson 305 for the first meeting of the semester.
Election for Club Secretary was held and freshman Katie Gatlin was elected. Gatlin served as secretary for both the Chemistry and General Biology Club at her high school in Oklahoma.
Biology Club President Audrey Rymer gave a summary of the club’s events for the rest of the semester.
The next Biology Club Event will be the Campus Cleanup on September 12. Two campus cleanups will take place that day- the first is through the Sternburg Geoscience Club.
Volunteers will meet at 3:30 p.m. in Tomanek Hall 225. This event is hosted by the city of Hays and the cleanup will focus on the area between Skyline Drive and Vine. Food will be provided.
Following that event, the Biology Club will host its own clean-up at 6 p.m. Volunteers will meet in front of Picken Hall and pick up trash around campus. Trash bags will be provided, but Rymer recommends students bring their own gloves.
“Houses around here get a little messy after the weekend and you might find some sort of questionable things,” Rymer said.
While the Biology Club is made up of mostly biology majors, Rymer encourages anyone to join.
“We have a lot of events planned this semester and I’m really looking forward to it,” Rymer said.
Social Media Manager Kassie Zimmer talked about another volunteer opportunity through the Kansas Wetlands Education Center. The Butterfly Festival will take place at Cheyenne Bottoms on September 17 and students can help run different stations. Cheyenne Bottoms is the largest wetlands in the interior United States and is located near Great Bend.
“If you’re interested in working with kids and teaching them more about biology, this would be a wonderful opportunity for you,” Zimmer said.
Stations include an insect zoo, milkweed and wildflower plant distribution and seed bomb stations where kids make seed bombs and sling them out into a field.
Students would be responsible for their own transportation, but Zimmer said individuals could carpool to make the ride more enjoyable.
September 29 will be a regular Biology Club meeting at 6 p.m. in Albertson 305. Students will volunteer for tabling times during Oktoberfest at this meeting.
On October 7, Biology Club will table at Oktoberfest. T-shirt designs were voted on at the meeting and the group will also have koozies this year.
“Koozies were a highly requested item last year and so we’re going to make that happen,” Rymer said.
Four Biology Club members will table at a time and tabling will only take place on Friday since Fort Hays homecoming is Saturday.
To spice up the meeting schedule for October 31, members are encouraged to wear costumes. The best costumes will be judged in a costume contest.
On November 4 there will be a Biology Barbeque and Olympics at 6 p.m. at Frontier Park.
On November 29, the club will meet at 6 p.m. in Albertson Room 305.
The club will sell Christmas Poinsettias at 9 a.m. in the Memorial Union on December 1 and then have a Christmas/Pre-finals party at 6 p.m. that night in Albertson 305.