WYOMISSING,爸爸. -整个2023年春季学期, the 宾州州立银行 campus community has been taking a more sustainable approach by hosting various events and initiatives through the “行动起来庆祝春天。!”的活动.
Some of the projects that culminated at the end of the semester included holding a sustainable self-care fair on campus, 放映《塑料的故事,” the creation of a campus garden and students presenting their engagement in environmental outreach projects — all to educate the campus community on the importance of developing environmentally-friendly practices.
校园花园及地球日庆祝活动
Students, 教职员工 gathered to learn about 花园 and other sustainable practices they can implement daily. Campus leaders also spoke about how they plan to utilize 花园 for student, 社区和校园参与, 以及它将如何有益于个人的整体健康.
The 宾州州立银行 可持续性 Council debuted its campus garden on April 17, 在图恩图书馆外，威廉·G. Hintz书店. It features five different garden beds containing vegetables, herbs and wildflowers.
Students, 教职员工 gathered to learn about 花园 and other sustainable practices they can implement daily. Campus leaders also spoke about how they plan to utilize 花园 for student, 社区和校园参与, 以及它如何有益于个人的整体健康.
Mahsa Kazempour, 科学教育副教授, 支持在。的帮助下建立花园的努力 希尔柯克家族伦理与可持续发展基金会. The purpose of the endowment is “to provide funds to increase awareness and education, 鼓励学生采取行动, 教职员工, 和社区, 关于道德和可持续性的问题.”
John Rost, a research technologist in the horticulture department at 宾州州立银行, 把种子给学生种在校园花园里.
The creation of 花园 is one step toward the college’s strategic plan initiative focusing on student and community engagement, 参与奖学金, 和可持续性. 除了, 花园, 直接和间接, supports the goals of improving campus-wide collaboration and enhancing enrollment and retention.
“We thought 花园 would be a nice way of having the campus come together as a community and to make this a collaborative process by involving faculty, staff, 学生和当地社区. We want to make it interdisciplinary and focus on building community and student engagement,卡赞普尔说.
Environmental Awareness and Community Action Project continues to impact Berks County
The 环保意识及社区行动计划(EACAP) 允许学生研究当地, 国家和全球环境问题, and engage in community-based projects to address sustainability issues in the Berks County area.
自2011年以来, Kazempour教授BiSci 3, 学院的环境科学课程, which requires enrolled students to complete community outreach projects focused on sustainability. The 环保意识及社区行动计划(EACAP) 允许学生研究当地, 国家和全球环境问题, and engage in community-based projects to address sustainability issues in the Berks County area.
对于Kazempour, she said she has found it's beneficial to teach the course with a learner-centered, immersive and transformative hands-on approach to enhance students’ environmental literacy, 了解环境和可持续发展相关问题, 参与社会活动和环境管理.
“This type of learning approach provides students with relevant and contextualized learning experiences as well as ample opportunities for active engagement in their learning,卡赞普尔说.
The spring 2023 semester projects included shoreline cleanups at Blue Marsh Lake, 在卡库辛公园植树, 在西南中学创作和绘画花园盒子, 准备校园花园, 仅举几个例子.
快到学期末了, students in the BiSci 3 course present their environmental projects on campus to students, 教职员工.
One member of the team of students — called “Yassify the Environment" — commented, “It was a wonderful way to give back to the local community in a fun and interactive way. 改善人和环境是相辅相成的.”
另一组学生, 《树帮》,，他们的服务项目主要是在卡库辛公园植树. 在反思自己的经历时, 该团队的一名成员说, “This experience has shown us how easy it is to devote just a little bit of time to help the environment. 小事情影响深远, 所以几年后，当这些树长大, we are able to see our work flourish and how much it’ll help the community.”
To view all the spring 2023 semester EACAP projects and project updates and reflections, visit the EACAP网站.
期待2023-24学年
进入2023- 2024学年, the 宾州州立银行 可持续性 Council will focus on working collaboratively as a campus community to become more informed and engaged in matters related to sustainability and the environment.
The campus garden along with the other green projects on campus will serve to not only begin to deal with issues of food insecurity on campus by making healthy food accessible to students, but also as a hub for cross-campus and community collaboration focused on teaching, 研究及服务.
“We will continue to work on initiatives focusing on issues related to sustainability and the intersectionality of environmental, 社会和经济正义与公平,卡赞普尔说.
For more information about these projects of joining the 宾州州立银行 可持续性 Council, 联系Mahsa Kazempour (电子邮件保护).
