SUNY Morrisville student Jeffrey Monette didn’t hesitate when asked if he could help with this year’s annual Earth Day celebration.
His table filled with wooden pieces was a popular choice for participants interested in building owl boxes to help cavity-nesting owls whose loss of nesting has threatened their survival.
“We are here helping to secure their future, giving them a place to live,” Monette said.
By the end of the day, wooden boxes lined his table, soon to be installed and monitored on college-owned wildlands. The research project, initiated by the college’s Sustainability Council and Environmental Sciences Department, was promoted during Morrisville Earth Day, which was celebrated across campus on April 19.
The day was filled with community service projects and various activities, a tradition that gives students, faculty and staff a chance to partake in acts of kindness that tie into sustainability and inspire them to protect the environment.
The campus celebration, sponsored this year by Enel North America, a clean energy leader and innovator, reflects on the United Nations 17 Sustainability Development goals.
Monette, a student in the college’s horticulture and agricultural business programs, is all about sustainability as one of many volunteers and members of Morrisville’s Sustainability Council.
Others touted what they have learned during the Applied Learning Student Showcase, where students displayed undergraduate research projects and activities that integrate applied learning and sustainability.
More than 50 projects reflected how their experience contributes to a global community, which exemplifies SUNY Morrisville’s spirit of collaboration and shared responsibility.
Rachel Soong, a veteran of the showcase, and Mackenzie Shanahan, were discussing their breeding captive clownfish display. For their project, they built a tank specifically to house clownfish eggs to hatch and grow into the larval stage. The college has two pairs of the bright-colored marine breeding fish in its marine lab.
Soong earned an associate degree in aquaculture & aquatic science before transferring into the college’s environmental & natural resources management bachelor’s program.
“I know with both of these degrees in the book, I will get a great job doing what I love to do,” said Soong, who plans to pursue a career in fish farming.
This semester, she is adding to her skillset through an internship working as a teaching assistant in the college’s aquaculture & aquatic science program. Part of the internship also includes teaching school groups at Rogers Environmental Center and working its summer camp as an environmental educator.
Many of the projects in the showcase involved work in or work with the community.
“The great aspect about our project (owl houses) is that it will involve the students and the community,” Monette said.
“This is one example of how our wildlife & arboriculture students will enhance ecosystem diversity with this sustainable project that will have lasting effects after our Earth Day celebration,” said Bill Snyder, professor of environmental science.
This year’s annual Earth Day celebration kicked off with keynote speaker Yvonne Chu, office manager at Onondaga Earth Corps, Inc. and former board president of Climate Change Awareness and Action.
Undergraduate student scholars also shared their unique and dynamic research-based projects, which included “Issues in the Equine World,” “Literature and Cultural Analysis,” “Health Sciences and Psychology” and “Natural Sciences and New Technology.”
Additional events included a tree planting, cooking demonstration with sustainable recipes, food pantry drive, eco fashion show, campus cleanup, athletics uniform recycling sale, tours of the college’s Aquaculture Center and Dairy and Specialty Crops Incubator and more.
More than 100 area high school students were part of a Clean Energy Career Exploration Day, hosted by renewable energy faculty in the Agricultural & Clean Energy Technology (ACET) Center. Participants toured the facility, partaking in interactivities and exploring careers in solar and wind power, heating and cooling systems and more.
Renewable energy student Evan Salvaggio was among students leading demonstrations throughout the day. Salvaggio and fellow classmates led a tower climb and rescue effort on the indoor towers. Additional sessions included a biofuels demonstration and tours of the solar energy and thermal/combustion lab.
