Visit www. Save these Dates! Upcoming Alumni and Family Events. The Office of Alumni and Family Engagement is planning a variety of events β both in-person and virtual β for you to reconnect with your Otterbein family. At Otterbein, students are taking leadership roles in developing sustainability projects and educating others on topics from pollinators and recycling to food waste.
Senior Hannah Brown , a double major in biology and zoo and conservation science, has been working with Facility Services on a project to plan a pollinator and rain garden since spring Now, in her final semester, the gardens are ready to be planted north of the Campus Center, with Facility Services planting an additional pollinator garden at The Point.
Rain gardens improve drainage, purify storm water runoff, and prevent erosion using a combination of rocks and deep-rooted plants. Brown stressed the importance of using native plants as habitat for bees, songbirds, and butterflies in this plan. She also hopes it will inspire more projects across campus.
In addition to the students profiled in this story, these student leaders are running programs to educate their peers about sustainability issues:. Students also kick-started a new initiative by the campus Sustainability Committee. Junior Lukas Patel, a studio art major with a ceramics concentration, brought concerns about campus recycling from the Otterbein University Student Government to the Sustainability Committee.
As a member of both, Patel has a unique opportunity to generate change. The biggest concern was the mixing of recycling and trash on campus. Patel explained that this project was created to divert items going into the landfill and improve recycling habits on campus. First-year Student Rachel Malek, used an art class project to educate others about food waste.
