After years of pursuing her passion of being a mermaid, senior Loree Morin has decided to create a mermaid club this year in order to share her enthusiasm for community service and mermaids with others. 

Morin said that she has always been fascinated by mermaids, and even lived out her dreams as a mermaid instructor at AquaMermaid Austin. Now, she said that she hopes to give others a chance to realize their passions as president of her new club. 

“I’ve been really into mermaids for a really long time and I thought it would be fun to apply my interests and share [them] with other people and allow them to discover how much fun it is,” Morin said. “I really want to share [the club] and use it as a way to promote conservation.” 

Along with informational presentations about the environment, Morin said that club meetings consist of relaxing arts and crafts and, of course, making mermaid tails. Every month the club has a “pod meeting” where they discuss future plans for community service, something Morin said plays a big role in being a mermaid. 

“Being a mermaid really is about advocacy,” Morin said. “A lot of really popular, professional mermaids, they all advocate for the limited use of plastics and conserving water and taking care of different species in global and local waterways.” 

Morin said that she believes community service is extremely important, and she hopes that the mermaid club will be able to help promote this importance. 

“Nobody likes going first so if we start, people will be more accepting of [community service],” Morin said. “It can leave room for people to be strange and unique, but it also leaves room for people to break barriers. If somebody starts it, then that means more people will come.” 

The vice president of the club, senior Nitya Sadasivan, said that she strongly believes in community service and ocean advocacy, so when she heard about the creation of the mermaid club from Loree, she didn’t hesitate to join. 

“Caring more about the environment is something I would like to see more in Cedar Park,” Sadasivan said. “I feel like sometimes we could be a little more empathetic about things happening in the environment and I really hope that this club can change that,” 

Treasurer and secretary of the club, junior Efrain Vera III, said that mermaid club is a great way to learn more about the environment and how to save it. 

“The whole point of mermaid club is conservation and it teaches you more and more about what’s going on [in the environment],” Vera said. “I think [the club] is great and how we talk about plastics [and] how we can work on getting [rid of] them entirely.” 

With the club being brand new this year, there are not many members and community service opportunities have been limited. However, Morin said that she hopes to promote the club through posters and, with more members, participate in multiple volunteer events. 

“I hope that we thrive as a club,” Morin said. “That is my biggest hope. We are really small right now. I really want us to be able to do larger projects. I hope that we get more people who are interested in helping out the community.” 

For more information about mermaid club, talk to club sponsor Laura Jennings. The club meets every Thursday during DEN in room 4004.