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A Day to Sustain

Plans are in the works for Millersville University’s first Campus Sustainability Day.

Drs. Duane Hagelgans and Nadine Garner in the ‘Ville-age Garden, discussing ideas for salvaging and repurposing bricks from the walls of Lenhardt and Burrowes residence halls, which will be demolished this summer.

The day has been set, September 24, and plans are in the works for Millersville University’s first Campus Sustainability Day. Events will be held in the ‘Ville-age Garden, in the SMC and at other sites around campus.

“The purpose of the event is three-fold,” according to Dr. Nadine Garner, associate professor of psychology, director of the Center for Sustainability and chair of the Sustainability committee.  “We want to celebrate and showcase the many sustainability projects that are already in existence at MU; educate the campus about the three pillars of sustainability (environmental preservation, social equity and economic justice); and engage the MU community in activities that will allow them to participate in sustainability.

Campus Sustainability Day will be a collaborative effort of the Sustainability Committee, with contributions by the Center for Sustainability and the Office of the President.

Through the Center for Sustainability, Garner will feature four of the Center’s initiatives:

  • ‘Ville-age Garden (behind Huntingdon House), an organic vegetable, herb and native plant garden where students are growing their own food and donating a portion to the campus food bank. There will be tours, food and music events;
  • An expansion of the TerraCycle/SmileTrain program, the University’s signature upcycling program that provides an opportunity for all members of the MU community to participate in sustainability by contributing waste items that are not typically recycled. The Center funds cleft lip and palate surgeries through the Smile Train charity with the money generated from sending the waste to TerraCycle;
  • Millersville University/Wheatland Middle School Partnership Garden, an organic garden located across from Wheatland MS in the School District of Lancaster, which teaches urban children to grow their own food and brings MU undergraduate and graduate Garden Mentors to work with the students;
  • Public unveiling of MU’s first on-site composting program, which began in April behind the Garden House in the ‘Ville-age Garden, turning coffee grounds and fresh fruit and vegetable scraps from Gordinier, the Galley, the Juice Bar and George St. Café into “black gold.”

Sustainability Committee member Dr. Duane Hagelgans, assistant professor of emergency management, is spearheading a project to salvage bricks from the outer walls of the Lenhardt and Burrowes residence halls, which will be demolished this summer, for possible reuse as a brick path in the ‘Ville-age Garden.

“This project exemplifies sustainability by demonstrating how to retain a piece of Millersville’s legacy and simultaneously providing a new use for an object that will serve the campus community,” said Garner.

President Anderson will be on hand during the day and is arranging for his colleague and friend Bob Perkowitz, founder of Eco America, to bring his Tesla (a high-end, electric vehicle) to campus for display.

New events for the day will continue to develop over the summer. Please visit the Center for Sustainability’s Facebook page at “Center for Sustainability – Millersville University” and “like” it to receive updates on the progress of Campus Sustainability Day.

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