SAVE and Human Rights have been two very active and helpful clubs in the school and community. This school year, the clubs were merged into one club titled Earth Rights Club.
SAVE was founded in 1999 by Computer Science teacher, Daryl Detrick. When asked how the club was started, Detrick said “We decided that we should start a recycling program at the school. We developed a program in which the students from the intellectually and developmentally disabled classes would collect the recycling on a weekly rotation. We were all so proud of what we had developed.”
From that first project the club decided they wanted to do more to help the environment.
Detrick was advisor until 2010 when O’Neill took over for him. “I am very disappointed that the administration decided not to continue to fund SAVE as an independent club, especially considering this is the 25th anniversary of its founding,” said Detrick.
SAVE stands for “Students Against Vandalizing the Earth.” That is the message that this club spread throughout our community. The students that have participated in this club made it their mission to help make our environment clean and keep it protected.
O’Neill explained, “They were dedicated, selfless young people who built and maintained trails and foot bridges, cleaned trash out of the streets of Washington and local watersheds.”
The Human Rights Club originally began as a volunteer chapter of the Darfur movement. A group of students 16 years ago went to Warren Hills history teacher Debra Rokosny and started the chapter because of the passion they had for human rights. From this start the club became a fully formed organization.
At the end of the 2023-2024 school year, the Human Rights club stipend was cut. In spite of lack of funding, club co-advisor Rokosny said, “Mrs. Shah and I said that we wanted to continue to run the club voluntarily because of its importance. Especially in 2025, students are very passionate about human rights.”
When asked why the two clubs were merged, athletic director Mike Jones explained, “I didn’t want Human Rights or SAVE not to happen, so we consolidated them. We wanted to make sure going through the budget that we can save something.”
As of this year, the Human Rights Club and SAVE Club are now under one Tier Three advisor stipend as the Earth Rights Club, when as recently as the 2023-2024 school year they operated independently each at Tier Three advisor stipends. Now they operate as one club under multiple advisors that focus on different goals.
Ruben Moreno, a new ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher is now the advisor of the environmental side of the club, Environmental Rights. Mrs. Shah and Mrs. Rokosny will both continue to advise the Human Rights side.
Both clubs focus on educating, supporting and helping others to make the world a better place. However, they achieve those common goals through different means.
SAVE was a club full of hands-on volunteer work and as Environmental Rights, they continue to do so through activities such as trail cleanups, invasive plant removal, and other nature-based activities.
Human Rights has always focused on raising awareness about human rights issues through informational, advocacy and fundraising campaigns. Their plans have not changed with their name change, and they continue with campaigns like “Write for Rights” and selling fair trade products at Valentine’s Day; all activities that are people-focused.
Environmental Rights meetings happen virtually, twice a month on Thursdays. Human Rights meetings are also on Thursdays, but they are directly after school and in person. While they occasionally meet together, often their separate meetings focus on their distinct human rights and environmental issues and events.
These clubs have technically been merged, however that does not mean that they are operating at half capacity. The opposite is true: both clubs are giving the 100% as they always have while the advisors now share the paycheck.