A Kennedy Junior High student walked out of a Naperville City Council meeting frustrated that no one her age was in the room.

Astha Savalia transmuted her angry feelings into a school sustainability program now composting lunch waste daily and collecting rainwater for a butterfly garden.

Savalia founded the Kennedy Eco Club during the 2025–2026 school year after learning at the council meeting about the city's reliance on coal. She secured a Naperville Education Foundation Express Grant in September 2025 to buy composting bins, water barrels, and Green Team badges for the club.

"I noticed that the people who were going to be impacted the most by the issue, AKA the younger generation, weren't really present at the meeting, and that bothered me," Savalia told the Naperville Education Foundation. "I really want to get young people involved in helping out the environment, and I thought my school would be a good place to do that."

In her grant application, Savalia cited the district's emissions dashboard showing Kennedy has the third-highest greenhouse gas emissions among all District 203 schools. The school serves approximately 977 students.

The grant, which provides up to $1,000 through NEF's Express Grant program, funded composting bins used to process cafeteria lunch waste daily. That compost goes to the school's Gardening Club. Water barrels collect rainwater to irrigate Kennedy's butterfly garden. The grant also covered supplies for a water-conservation mural the club submitted to the Wyland National Art Challenge, a nationwide K–12 environmental art competition.

The club drew students from multiple grade levels. Savalia said that was unusual for a junior high where "the grades are kind of separated."

Savalia's work aligns with District 203's Carbon Action Plan, adopted by the school board in spring 2025, which targets net-zero emissions by 2050 and specifically calls for cafeteria composting programs. Buildings and energy account for 88% of the district's total emissions, according to the plan.

Now headed to high school, Savalia plans to join her new school's Eco Club and stay connected to the Kennedy program through her younger sister, who still attends KJHS. She plans to study environmental sociology.