By Mark Salma
AP Environmental Science students set up their endangered species projects in the courtyard as environmental science teacher Tony Strohmeyer studied the projects. Ranging from the Panda to the Southern Orca, each student picked a different endangered animal to research and present their findings on.
“This is about changing anybody and everybody that walks on by,” Strohmeyer said.
Every presentation had a place where students put their signature, signifying that the students learned about that species and its endangerment.
“The signing, as far as it goes, is to get average students to at least look and see to see trends from poster to poster,” Strohmeyer said.
Some students researched on animals, like the Orangutan that have recently become endangered due to hunters killing and selling them in many places. Also, because palm oil is being used instead of corn syrup, a lot of orangutans are losing their lives,
“They try to climb the palm trees, and they would shoot them out of the tree.” Strohmeyer said. “Our generation is suspected that you will be the last generation to see all kinds of elephants, all kinds of big cats, all types of rhinos, and great apes.”
If this trend continues, the next generation will be able to only read about endangered animals in books like the saber-tooth tiger. In order to stop this, Strohmeyer said to spread awareness about this cause.
“The sooner we get awareness out, the sooner action starts taking, the sooner we start reverse it and increase populations, and go back to the way we are,” Strohmeyer said.
This project interested some students who weren’t taking the AP Environmental Science class.
“I liked it,” freshman Carlos Jesus Aguilar said. “It was interesting, it had very nice details.”