by Katie Chase, staff writer

Salome Carrasco, a PPSC student, has written a proposal for gardens in the Centennial Campus courtyard. The proposal is to divvy up the courtyard into sections, managed by several clubs at the Centennial Campus. This would mean creating garden sections for different clubs to manage in order to reduce the burden of maintaining the courtyard, and to create spaces for different clubs and groups to congregate and promote themselves.

The proposal suggests that this will not only be good for the maintenance of the courtyard, by reducing the stress put on the previous small group of maintainers, the sustainability club; but it would also allow for the creation of better social spaces for these clubs, and a greater sense of community within the school, according to Carrasco. “Building a tighter community with students from all walks of life,” she says.

This plan is needed now more than ever. The sustainability club is on hold, due to the lack of an advisor,which means that the courtyard does not have its old system of maintenance. In addition, there is no student-centered force for campus sustainability currently present. Putting this proposal into place would make campus sustainability a broader effort, as well as bring attention back to a space on campus which has many possibilities for use. However, the lack of an advisor holds up the process of enacting the proposal because the advisor would be the one to implement it.

In sections of the proposal which elaborate on the details of its implementation, Carrasco says clubs should be given the space for self-advertisement, community spaces, and developing their own gardens. In an updated version of the proposal, in a section explaining why this plan should be implemented, Carrasco says these garden sections could serve as advertising for the clubs or initiatives who should take a role in maintaining these curated gardens. She also offers the possibility that it could be used as a way to promote more volunteering opportunities “from deadheading flowers to pulling weeds.”

In some extra suggestions, mostly found in the updated version, Carrasco proposes a guide on care for native plants for the clubs that the courtyard would be handed off to, so that the clubs could create their own gardens in their sections. The project would also need a small shed for gardening tools to be shared among the clubs.

There seems to be a lot of positive attention that this project is getting within the faculty and student body who are aware of it. “MVP has been working towards having a section of the courtyard designated or veterans,” she says. The proposal also says that Carrasco has talked about it with several clubs who have commented positively on the proposal plan “Geology, Anthropology, LGBTQ, COSI coaches.” She also states that faculty associated with the Latino Alliance have been supportive of the project.

As far as her goals for a deadline, the current version of the proposal hopes to see it enacted in the Spring of this year, although the spring semester has already begun. So, it seems more support may be needed for this project to be enacted in the future. Student advocacy for this program may call attention to this opportunity for campus sustainability and social development. Student Life, an office centered around assisting students with general information and other such student centered services, may be able to direct students to where to make their voices heard.

 

Overhead view of the campus, with details added to explain the proposal and highlight the courtyard (Photo taken from Apple Map Services, and edited by Salome Carrasco)