The Birds and Wildlife club hosted its first meeting on Wednesday, February 19. Run by sophomores Anuj Khemka and Ananda Kalukin, the club hopes to bring knowledge about local wildlife to the Jefferson community. During the meeting, the pair went over basic wildlife information and also talked about what they would do in the future.

Club vice president and sophomore Anuj Khemka wanted to help students be able to identify wildlife in their everyday lives. 

“There’s over a thousand species of animals in Northern Virginia. And what we really want people to be able to do is go outside, look around, and observe all of the diverse wildlife,” Khemka said. 

Khemka hopes that the club will be able to provide students with new ways to interact with wildlife and allow them to express their passion for wildlife. 

“The idea of the club is that we want to provide people with a way to interact with wildlife. So the activities we want to do range from photography, videography, and also teaching people how to observe and identify wildlife,” Khemka said. “We want to provide freedom to get this experience so you’ll have memories and records of what you did.” 

Club president Ananda Kalukin hopes students will be able to learn about wildlife but also become more environmentally conscious about protecting the environment. 

“First of all, I hope they’ll learn about wildlife. Second of all, they’ll feel the urge to become good stewards of the environment, and they’ll promote conservation and have knowledge of wildlife in general,” Kalukin said. 

In the future, Kalukin hopes to make club meetings more discussion-based while also providing members with the opportunity to show their knowledge of wildlife with each other through presentations and guest speakers.

“We’re going to have discussions, guest speakers, and maybe talks by members. I’m planning for various kinds of activism, like a session where people can petition or write about a conservation related topic,” Khemka said.