A resourceful day on the Quad
The Natural Resource College’s members set a goal to present what their college has to offer to students at USU. That goal has become closer to being accomplished this week through the activities that have been presented at NR week, particularly NR Day on the Quad.
“This is a way to spotlight the things we do, a way for students to interact with the different things that our college offers,” Ashley Loertscher, junior in environmental studies, said. A variety of programs and organizations were participating in Wednesday’s Day on the Quad involving wildlife, environmental studies, sustainability help and awareness and cycling, Loertscher said.
A lot of different activities were also at NR Day on the Quad including a log sawing contest, a rock climbing wall and a live student bluegrass band called Blue Blouses and Black Trousers, said Loertscher.
The Forestry Club was promoting themselves by letting anyone who wanted to participate try to saw a “cookie” off of an Aspen tree.
“We are using a cross-cut saw that is rich in history but now we use it just for fun,” Jeremiah Armentrout, environmental science junior, said. A contest was held to see who could cut the log the fastest with four different categories: fastest girl team, fastest boy team, Jack and Jill competition and a style category, he said. The winners all receive a free “How’s Your Aspen?” T-shirt, Armentrout said.
Many campus-based organizations and clubs were at Wednesday’s event. One of them was the ORC, Outdoor Recreation Center,.
“We are basically the students’ gateway to the natural resources. If you want to play in them, we’re the way to do it,” Liz Pedersen, senior in landscape architecture, said.
The ORC was promoting the different forms of recreation they have to offer such a telemark and cross-country skis, snowshoes, hiking poles, backpacks and other outdoor gear, Pedersen said. They were also promoting a fall break adventure offered to students, she said. The ORC staff will be taking people to Tony Grove in Logan Canyon, she said, where participants will hike and camp. Meals are provided and the entire trip will cost students $25, she said.
“It’s a great opportunity to go if you have always wanted to,” Pedersen said, “and we do it for really cheap.”
Other organizations were there promoting outdoor recreation including Common Ground, an organization that takes disabled people and volunteers on outdoor adventures, and Tread Lightly, a program developed to encourage people to be kind to the environment when they do outdoor recreation, Loerschter said.
The USU Cycling Club was also there promoting healthy living by encouraging students to commute on bikes. They had a few bicycles to show and even allowed students to ride on a tandem bicycle.
“We just want to get people aware. We have club rides weekly on Thursdays at 5 and there is a class ride that anyone is welcome to come on on Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m.,” Lisa Lloyd, senior studying speech pathology, said.
“The more that people ride, the more comfortable and the more apt you are to commute to school and work. It doesn’t have to be just for exercise, it’s so practical and is good for overall wellness,” Lloyd said.
The Logan City Environmental Department, LCED, was also promoting healthy living by encouraging students to take measures to recycle and conserve energy, said, Jaime Ericksen of LCED.
“We are trying to make recycling off campus more available in the community and increase awareness for environmental issues,” Ericksen said.
LCED was giving away bags to students who pledged to use it when grocery shopping rather than plastic bags, they called it the BYOB Pledge, meaning bring your own bag, Ericksen said. They were also giving out bookmarks and magnets to educate students with helpful tips on decreasing solid waste, how to handle trash and recycling, how to conserve energy and therefore save money, Ericksen said.
SNAG, an acronym standing for Sustainable Notions for All Generations, was there to sell recycled merchandise and to give students ideas on what they can do with their recycled clothing. This group was founded by a USU student, Corrie Blackham, a senior in family consumer studies.
“We take clothes and recycle them to make new things out of them, bags, quilts and clothes. We have a bag that’s made out of fifty to sixty plastic grocery sacks,” Teisha Thompson, junior in family consumer studies, said.
A goal of this group, like many others at NR Day on the Quad, was to make people more aware of environmental issues.
“We are trying to get people to open their minds to recycle clothes, not throw them away,” she said.
Global Village Gifts was selling merchandise right next to SNAG and is an organization whose prerogative is free-trade rather than focusing on environment. Their advertisement promoted their merchandise as being entirely fair trade, meaning the artisans who made the items had decent working conditions and were treated with fairness economically and socially. John Shervais of Global Village Gifts said the organization is staffed by volunteers and is completely non-profit.
“Seventy percent of the artisans are women and the money allows them to do things like send their kids to school,” Shervais said.
Dustin Ranglack, senior in wildlife science and NR Week Chairman, said he thought NR Week was a success.
“It’s our chance to highlight what our college does because people think that we are Chaco-wearing, coffee-drinking hippies,” Ranglack said.
Loerstcher agreed.
“It’s the best college. There is a lot of face-to-face interaction with professors and it’s a very groundbreaking college with a lot of undergraduate research. We’re very diverse and throughout NR Week we have been able to spotlight all the different areas of our college,” Loerstcher said.
–beck.turner@aggiemail.usu.edu