Welcome Students!

There is a lot of life on campus now that students have returned and classes will begin in just a couple short days. Facilities Team Green really enjoyed welcoming the class of ’21 at the EXPO last week, giving away solar powered flashlight key rings in multiple colors. Pictured above, Team Green member Mariah Greico (Class of ’18) welcomes a brand new first year student at the EXPO.

Though summer tends to be a quieter time on campus in terms of student activity, a lot of behind the scenes preparations are always ongoing. This summer, the amount of construction happening was extreme with the RG&E duct bank project on the roadways and multiple other campus improvement projects! But the end results have been worth it, most notably the new mixed-use residential and athletic building, Genesee Hall. Our Facilities crew in Res Life works especially hard to get everything cleaned up and ready for students. They helped consolidate electronics that were left behind and ultimately recycled as part of the Move-out Cleanout. Facilities Team Green becomes particularly friendly with that group in the summer as they go through the residential buildings to put up recycling signage. In where??? The bathroom stalls of course! It takes several weeks to cover over 1,000 stalls with our “Recycling 101 inSTALLment” (shown left). But the end result is worth it as students definitely notice this signage and can learn tons of information.

We are especially thankful to have already been working with the EcoReps this year. During their pre-orientation, they received extensive training on how to recycle before the rest of their fellow classmates arrived. On move-in day they helped flatten cardboard boxes and bring them out to the appropriate collection containers to ensure they would be recycled. They also helped with a special collection of Styrofoam on this day and gathered a total of 189 cubic feet or 145 pounds of expanded polystyrene to be recycled by the local company Thermal Foams. We are also “super” excited (pun intended) to welcome the new upperclassmen Super EcoReps to campus this year!

A HUGE thanks to Patricia and Michaela who worked tirelessly all summer to maintain and improve sustainability on campus!! It always feels like a bit of a whirlwind by the time all the preparations are done and students have returned. Thanks for keeping our campus green everyone! We are looking forward to another great academic year!