An eco-friendly Marine Conservation Club founded by a sophomore student has been newly introduced this year at Walpole High School.

“I know pollution is a really big problem,” sophomore and club founder Martha Hilty said. “I’m really passionate about pollution, so my friends who are also really passionate about it thought it would be cool if we could make it official.”

Every other Thursday, the Marine Conservation Club meets in marine biology teacher Eric O’Connor’s room, and they hope to spread their message to gain more support.

“We are starting with posters and hope to broadcast on the morning news to spread our message further,” Hilty said.

Since the club is still new, the Marine Conservation Club does not have any events planned, but there are some ideas Hilty has in the works.

“Eventually, I would like to get us doing monthly beach cleanups, so we would go to different beaches and pick up all the trash, which is going to be cool,” Hilty said.

Although cleaning up beaches close to home is important to Hilty and other members, she also wants to expand her efforts further in marine conversation to other parts of the country and world.

“In the future, I would really like to have us go on a trip somewhere further and clean up something on a larger scale,” Hilty said.

Other than heading to local beaches to clean up waste, the club also plans to raise money and help out other organizations dedicated to marine life conservation.

“We would really like to raise some money and help out charities dedicated to cleaning the ocean by taking out chemicals and plastic that contaminates the ocean,” sophomore Cassandra Stelmash said.

In the future, the Marine Conservation Club hopes to further spread their message throughout the community and continue to work towards a cleaner ocean.

“I hope to spread the message of what we’re doing with pollution in our oceans,” Stelmash said. “We need to come together and figure out a way to not put trash in our oceans.”