BERLIN – Fifteen seniors in Salisbury University’s environmental studies department have partnered with the Town of Berlin to engage the community in environmentally friendly practices.
Since the beginning of the semester, graduating students in an environmental studies senior seminar at Salisbury University have focused their efforts on a capstone project that required them to develop green initiatives the town could use.
Sarah Surak, environmental studies professor, said the students have been working in four groups to create initiatives that focus on community, consciousness, economy and ecology.
“We design projects that will be handed off or completed,” she said.
Although the course is offered three times throughout the year, Surak said this was the first time students have partnered with the Town of Berlin to complete a capstone project of this nature.
She explained that the idea to partner with Berlin came nearly a year ago, when she ran into Town Administrator Laura Allen on a flight layover in Philadelphia. After discussions revealed Allen’s desire to build a relationship between the town and Salisbury University, Surak said she offered a solution.
“It has developed into a great partnership,” Surak said.
The first of the four groups has focused their efforts on creating a proposal for an annual Greenfest event, which Surak explained would bring together several green initiatives on a yearly basis.
The second group of students has been working with Berlin’s wastewater department to install a bee pollinator garden, an initiative that targets the declining bee population.
“It will be built in a visible area as a public education project,” Surak said.
The third group is working with Ivy Wells, the town’s economic and community development director, to establish a reusable bag program.
Surak explained the idea is to reward customers who visit Berlin’s merchants and utilize reusable bags. Those who partake in the program will receive a card, which can be hole-punched each time they use their reusable bags. Once the card is filled, they can redeem it for a reward.
The fourth and final group is developing a proposal that will introduce a green business certification program in town. Surak said students are currently using models from surrounding towns to produce business requirements.
The original intent of the course, Surak explained, was for students to form proposals on the four initiatives at the end of the semester. Because of the town’s support, however, she said she expects the bee pollinator project to be completed and the reusable bag program to be piloted by the end of May.
“The students were accepted with welcoming arms from the town,” she said. “I can’t emphasis how successful it was.”
Allen said that she, Wells and Jane Kreiter, the town’s public works and water resources director, met with the students two months ago to give a presentation and identify a couple of issues they could work on throughout the semester. Yet she added the students took charge of each project.
“It’s a partnership,” Allen said. “I’m not telling them what to do. They’re just making themselves available.”
For example, she said the students participated in the town’s annual clean-up that took place last Saturday.
“They’re sharp kids focused on politics, sustainability and economics,” she said.
Surak said she has seen the positive impact the partnership has had on both the Town of Berlin and the students and added that she would like to partner with another town for next spring’s senior seminar.
“They are inspired that they can make change in local communities,” she said.
The students will be at the May 8 meeting of the Berlin Town Council to present their proposals and projects.