NEST News
NEST Berwick Railway Cleanup
Clean Up Australia Day was held on Sunday 7 March which is dedicated to inspiring and empowering communities to “clean up, fix up and conserve our environment.” However, NEST was unable to partake in this event as a group, due to the event being held on a Sunday. Therefore, our NEST leaders decided to ask for 15 volunteers to help the Rail Crossing Authority clean up around the Berwick railway, on Wednesday March 10.
As a year 9 student, I was luckily able to participate in this event. This was my first time participating in a club held event at Nossal and I was glad to help the Rail Crossing Authority clean up. We were firstly introduced to some of the members of the Rail Crossing Authority who were very positive, enthusiastic, and welcoming people. After introducing themselves, we, as a collective headed to their ‘headquarters,’ where we were handed gloves, tongs, a garbage bag and were divided into different groups. Each group had a different section of area around the Berwick railway to clean up.
The group I was in consisted of two members form the Railway Crossing Authority, our wonderful Miss Po Lin, and Isabella who was another year 9 member of NEST. Our group was not specifically centered around one area, but instead we walked around many different sections. Although, it was safe to say that as a group we collected and found large quantities of waste around the area. We recollected as a group at around 3:15pm and took some photos. Some of our group members had found two bags full of garbage.
Therefore, we can conclude that if Berwick Railway was in this much need of desperate cleaning, Australia must be filthy. As much as Clean up Australia day positively impacts the environment, one day isn’t enough to keep Australia clean, which is why everyone in the community needs to contribute every day to keeping Australia clean. As members of the community, it is important to do the little things we can to help Australia, because these ‘little things’ can massively impact our future and our environment.
Overall, I had an enjoyable experience in participating in this event and gained new insight on the amounts of waste around the world. I hope to participate in this event again and I highly encourage everyone to participate in Clean Up Australia day to positively affect our environment and future.
Added to my recount, here is a message from the 2021 NEST Leaders – Thank you so much for everyone involved in this event! It was great to see so many enthusiastic students! It’s important that we’re always mindful of ways we can keep our planet clean and healthy. Cleaning up rubbish when we see it is just one of the many ways to help out!
Rivindi Fonseka
Year 9
NEST Swimming Carnival Bake Sale
On the February 26, during Nossal’s annual bustling Swimming Carnival, NEST held a Bake Sale. All funds raised went towards the Australian Conservation Foundation.
As the swimming carnival approached, a couple of enthusiastic participants from the NEST club engaged in an enjoyable baking event. The aim of this event was to bake some mouth-watering brownies and cookies which were to be sold in the bake sale at the swimming carnival. On a Wednesday afternoon we all gathered in the food tech room to prepare the brownies and cookies and we had Ms Ooi and some of the amazing NEST leaders supervising us as well.
Everything went smoothly which made the session finish earlier than anticipated. It was quite obvious that everyone had a good time as it was quite an interactive and fun experience to be involved in. There were clear signs of teamwork as everyone worked in an efficient manner to reach the intended goal. I personally too found it an interactive experience as I got to know other members of the club in the process of baking as well. Overall, this baking experience was incredibly entertaining and convivial which gave a relaxing finish to the Wednesday afternoon.
The results of the actual Swimming Carnival day were incredible to say the least. With the same amount of food made as last year, the NEST team still managed to sell out completely by 11:30am - only halfway through the Swimming Carnival! We also managed to raise over $400 throughout the course of the whole day. A massive thanks to everyone involved in the whole process - organisers, students who helped with baking and selling, the NEST Team and of course everyone who brought something from the Bake Sale.
The NEST Team aimed to be as environmentally friendly as possible in our still existing COVID situation and decided to sell the items in paper bags on the day. We believe that selling the items in paper bags will hopefully create less of a harmful impact to the environment as plastic packaging. Unfortunately, we could not do it without any packaging at all due to COVID restrictions.
To finish up, just a friendly reminder from the NEST leaders to always be aware of ways you may be unknowingly damaging the environment - if you can, avoid taking cars to school and instead take public transport; if you see some rubbish, all it takes is a few seconds to pick it up and bin it; try to bring as little packaging to school as possible. It’s all these small things that we can do as individuals to eventually collectively help save our planet! :)
Sineka Premratne & Rasna Preman
Year 10 Year 11