In the face of a decaying natural environment, we are often left to consider what we can do to support our local communities. The Burlingame Eco-pioneers club aims to answer that question, focusing specifically on how the younger generations — especially high schoolers — can play their part in helping our environment.

In January of 2023, then-sophomores Spencer Phonsombat, Krishna Nagarajan and Max Magidin — now a CSM middle college student — banded together to create a group called the Eco-pioneers. Their main goal was to educate people on how to better the environment by organizing fun events like beach cleanups.

Phonsombat, the current club president, was especially interested in cultivating impactful and educational experiences for the younger generation.

“We founded it because we want to make a genuine impact on the environment, and really fix the root cause of our issues with the environment, which [involves] educating younger individuals and educating the community,” Phonsombat said.

Nagarajan, vice president, added that the group aimed to create a friendly and positive community where people could support the environment while also having a good time.

“One of the bigger things is we can better our environment, but we can also have fun while doing it. Like cleaning up in big groups with lots of friends,” Nagarajan said. “We do a lot of our cleanups on the beach, so we can hang out on the beach, but we’re also doing it for our environment at the same time.”

The founders applied to become a non-profit organization early on in the year, but have not yet raised the $500 necessary to do so. In the meantime, and to broaden their outreach, they decided to turn the Eco-pioneers into an in-school club for the 2023-2024 school year. They quickly generated student interest, growing from a small batch of friends to an assembly of 50-60 students in only a few weeks. At least a third of those members regularly attend meetings and cleanups, the leaders said.

“We felt that it’d be beneficial to the club to have people from our school – people other than just our friends participating in it – because we could have [more] people from all grades,” said Phonsombat.

Nagarajan attributes a lot of the club’s success in gathering student interest to the club fair.

“I think the club fair was really good for getting exposure, getting out there,” said Nagarajan. “We got a lot of people that are our friends, but we also got some people that we don’t know – and those are the people who we hope to educate about our environment.” 

On Saturday, Oct. 21, the Eco-pioneers hosted a beach cleanup at Ross’ Cove. The event lasted for around two hours during the afternoon, and over 20 Burlingame students arrived to help out. This was their second event this school year, as they also hosted a cleanup at Poplar Beach in September. Though the club has only organized cleanups so far, they plan to diversify and start hosting a variety of events such as bake sales, library fundraisers, visits to recycling plants and sessions with guest speakers.

The Eco-pioneers look forward to the rest of the year, hoping to host at least one event every month. Though their efforts may appear small in the grand scheme of things, every contribution helps restore our environment, at least a little.

To Phonsombat, the club is also a valuable learning experience for himself and his peers. 

“I think this is giving me a good understanding of our environment and just how I could better use my time for a better purpose, while still having fun.”