Ecology Club

Documenting the story of "Nora's Raiders" - the Golden Valley Jr. High School Ecology Club - came to me when I began to talk to present-day students and young people about what environmental issues they were aware of and concerned about.  The Nora of "Nora's Raiders" is my mother, Eleonora Sztaray, whose early observances of student behavior, general concern about the environment and what kind of world her generation was leaving behind for future generations, led her to tap into the issues of the day and make them relevant for her students.

I felt that so many of the issues that we were concerned about and the activities we were involved in - all basic tenents of ecology - have become so engrained in our everyday lives that we have lost the perspective that there was a time that these issues were not obvious, that we had to learn about them and educate others.  Back in the era before sustainability, green-for-profit, before it was ever considered "cool," there were little groups of students who were picking up the trash, collecting newspapers and cans for recycling (for no or little cash), raising money for bikepaths and safe bike storage, and planting trees.  I wanted to take a few images and memories and present them here, if only to remind us how far we have come....

- Zsuzsa Sztaray