MC celebrates sustainability as part of nationwide environmental campaign

On Oct. 22, Maryville College celebrated Campus Sustainability Day.

“This is a nationwide event that’s happened for about the past four or five years where campuses across the country are using Oct. 22 to take a look at and try to remind folks of campus events and how we can be more sustainable,” said Dr. Mark O’Gorman. O’Gorman teaches political science on campus as well as coordinating environmental studies.

At MC, students and faculty gathered outside of Pearsons and at Crawford house to participate in events that promoted using good resources and being mindful of the planet in a positive way.

Outside of Pearsons Hall, students and faculty membrs gathered under a tent that featured food prepared by the Metz Culinary Team. All of the food was collected from locally-sourced ingredients and included pumpkin bread, cheese, sweet potato biscuits, eggplant dip and salsa among other things.

The sustainable options available encouraged students to realize the wonderful benefits involved with using locally-sourced ingredients as well as the importance of seasonal ingredients.

Later in the day, Sheri Lyles from Lyles Acres Organic Farm visited campus to share information with students about local produce and why it’s important to eat organic.

In addition, posters were featured under and around the tent that were designed by Adrienne Schwarte’s Typography class this semester. Students were asked to design wholly typographic designs drawing attention to issues in sustainability and the environment. The posters included important information regarding sustainability issues relating to students as well as raised awareness to environmental issues throughout the world.

“We’ve asked students to write down ideas they have for saving energy on campus and also ideas that they’ve been involved with or done in the past,” Schwarte said. Schwarte teaches design on campus and is an active figure on campus in regards to campus sustainability.

Featured by the campus bookstore were a few of Assistant Professor of Writing/Commuication Kim Trevathan’s nonfiction books as well as a calendar made by Dr. Drew Crain’s Wildlife Photography class. Both Trevathan and Crain attended the event outside of Pearson’s.

As mentioned above, Crain teaches an experiential class during j-term on wildlife photography. With photos taken in the last two years on campus and in the Smoky Mountains National Park, Crain put together a wonderful 17-month calendar that incorporates dates specific to the MC community like school breaks and exam dates.

“I emphasize color, composition and lighting in the class. You can see how students use that to create these very moving photos,” Crain said in regards to the photos featured in the calendar.

With this calendar, Crain took the opportunity to feature the student photographers and their majors. He hopes this will show students that you don’t have to be biology major to appreciate nature.

In addition to the events that took place outside of Pearsons, Campus Sustainability Day was celebrated at Crawford House with a yoga session on their new yoga deck. Mountain Challenge also took part in the celebration by giving green tours of the campus. These walking tours around campus explained green and sustainable initiatives that MC has been involved with for the past few years.

Overall, MC celebrated a fantastic Campus Sustainability Day with many students and faculty members participating in the events. MC plans on continuing this tradition in the future as well as continuing to incorporate sustainability throughout campus.