T.E.A.M, The Environmental Action Movement, hosted a meet and greet, filled with pizza and board games recently with the intent to boost membership.
Membership offers students a space to collaborate with other environmental advocates.
The club started with a brief 30 minute meeting to discuss their goals of obtaining their auxiliary grant and securing their Krispy Kreme fundraiser.
The auxiliary is a grant provided to college clubs to fund activities that cannot be raised through means such as fundraising.
In T.E.A.M’s case they applied to fund an enrichment trip to Eugene, Oregon for the PIEC, Public Interest Environmental Conference, which will take place in March.
PIEC brings together environmental lawyers, community members, and activists to collaborate and discuss current environmental issues.
This year’s conference will discuss the challenges environmentalists have to overcome in their advocacy as well as celebrating diverse voices in the community.
T.E.A.M had determined that if the funding is granted they will only be able to take 10 members, of which they need to ensure they are dedicated to make the trip with the club.
When discussing concerns on who to grant permission to, Communications Officer Kennedy Tiodores suggested that they open the opportunity to members that frequently participate in meetings and events.
(Listed from right to left) Club president Alecia Jensen, advisor Desiree Montenegro, and club secretary Lauren Fox meet and discuss their previous meeting before starting the meet and greet event. T.E.A.M. club advisors and members discussed plans of possible trips and seminars the club can participate in. This event took place on Oct. 21, 2024. (Nick Eismann)
Alecia Jenson, T.E.A.M President, is in charge of securing the auxiliary grant for the club and wants to address concerns over who gets to go on the trip.
“The most equitable way, I think, is first come first serve. I’ve seen that done a lot in other groups but like Kennedy (Tiodores) was saying there’s something to be said for people who are here showing up and doing the work. Shouldn’t they be able to go to the enrichment? Shouldn’t they have first pick? So I definitely want to take those concerns into consideration,” Jensen said.
There were also concerns about the traveling from the hotel to the venue, Secretary Lauren Fox discussed how they would solve that problem.
“Well when we talked to our president, we were thinking about making it a walking distance so we wouldn’t have to take Ubers and spend our money. We would be able to walk back and forth without much of an issue like how our campus is,” Fox said.
Overall, with all the planning of the enrichment trip, they had also discussed their upcoming Krispy Kreme fundraiser.
T.E.A.M had recently signed for the fundraiser and are still hammering out final details such as time and location.
There was a minor issue on their social media outreach in regards to obtaining their facebook information which they have been locked out of for some time now.
Tiodores wants to ensure that there would not be a repeat of this situation with their facebook and ensure that future T.E.A.M members will have full access to their social media.
“We want to use multiple platforms to promote our stuff because some people might not have Instagram or might not have Facebook,” Tiodores said.
T.E.A.M holds meetings every other week with time and place to be announced on their Viking Engagement page.