Berry Students Make Finals in Project Green Challenge
By RNW Staff Writer Josh McGee on Dec 15, 2011 with Comments 0
Two Berry College students have been named finalists in the national Project Green Challenge for their efforts to live green in campus housing.
Jennifer Smolek, of St Mary’s City, Md., and Emily Grace, of Owings, Md., were among the top 12 finalists out of more than 2,600 worldwide. Their project, Berry Environmental Living and Learning (BELL) house, is a new way for students to live green in campus housing. The project incorporates more than a dozen students in two townhouses who reduce, reuse and recycle. Smolek, a senior animal science major, said that living in the BELL house is surprisingly easy.
“We are trying to show that any college student can incorporate sustainable habits in their daily life,” she said. “We recycle, time our showers, and weigh our trash. Our big project is going to be composting.”
The BELL house is a pilot project that stemmed from last year’s environmental science course. During the course, the students were to select, refine and undertake a project that could be beneficial from a big-picture environmental perspective, emphasizing action on or near campus.
Smolek and her roommate, Grace, were involved in the final stages of planning the BELL House.
“I wanted to be involved in this project because I wanted to live more sustainably, but I was struggling with implementing the changes in my daily life while at school,” Smolek said. “I want this project to be successful so that future BELL house residents can take it even further and accomplish great things with this opportunity. There is a lot of potential for this house to become a great model as a green alternative!”
As a finalist in Project Green Challenge, Smolek took an all-expenses paid trip to San Francisco for a two-day educational summit called Green University.
“It was amazing!” Smolek said. “We heard informative and inspirational speeches from various eco heroes. We were also able to collaborate with them to develop programs that we can implement on our campuses and other schools nationwide.”
As the success of the BELL house spreads, Smolek and Grace want to stay focused on their commitment to on-campus opportunities.
“We hope to coordinate some fun events with the Green Team and the ECOS office in the near future,” Smolek said. “We want to use the BELL house as a platform to allow more students to be green.”
