Listen Here
By Morgan Wissinger, WissingerM@Findlay.edu
The University of Findlay’s campus is undergoing a significant transformation behind Egner Fine Arts Building, where construction is underway to revitalize an underused area. Justin Richardson, Instructor of Teaching in Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health Management (ESOH) program, says the project is part of his class, ESOH 140, Introduction to Sustainability.
“Over the last few years, that area has been a collection space for discontinued items across campus. In some ways, it has become a campus blight, which is something that we cover in sustainability classes — how certain problems can be turned into resources,” Richardson said.
The area, once an eyesore, is now the focal point of an initiative to redevelop it in line with sustainability principles. The project aims to give students hands-on experience in creating sustainable spaces on campus.
“Our goal was to redevelop an area of campus more in-line with sustainability principles,” Richardson said.
Collaboration with the grounds crew has played a pivotal role in the success of the project.
“Our grounds crew noticed that a lot of the plants were stressed, suffering, and some of them died on campus, because they’re just not designed for this environment,” Richardson said. “Our thought was how to protect native spaces and how to make them look aesthetically pleasing.”
Thanks to an endowment through the College of Science, the class was able to repurpose materials previously deemed unusable,
“The goal for the project, a sustainable goal, is to do things by repurposing and reusing and so by nature a lot of the materials were looked at as waste products already, or things that were unable to be used in their current state,” Richardson said. “Our ability to ‘MacGyver’ a solution using the materials we have is also another focus of the class.”
By creatively using existing resources, the project has kept a significant amount of waste out of the landfill.
“If I had to guess, just to put an estimate on there, we managed to keep out four to five tons out of the landfill. Which is a great thing to be able to share with people,” Richardson said.
Once completed, the area behind Egner will be transformed into a student space for studying, research, and enjoyment.
“The goal here is to incorporate environmental aspects with a focus on people’s needs,” Richardson said. “I think our students really liked the idea behind it. It makes them feel like they’ve actually accomplished something in class. A physical product that benefits everybody is something we can all feel good about after the project’s over.”
This revitalization project is meant to not only enhance the campus but also provide a lasting example of sustainability in action. The construction project is planned to be completed by the end of Fall 2024.
