On October 29, the NVU Gardening Club made its debut at the Halloweek in The Park involvement fair. The new club co-hosted a table with the Climate Consensus offering pumpkin painting. Leftover painted pumpkins found themselves in front of Harvey Academic Center as decorations. This was the club’s first of many events to come.
The gardening club was created by first-year Joshua Dick midway through the fall semester. When asked why he started the club, he said it was “because I have always had a strong interest in gardening and wanted to create something in relation to that on campus.” The current executive board of the gardening club consists of Dick as President and Treasurer, Andrew Mckeen as Vice President, and Jeffery Blais as Secretary. The club meets in HAC 121 every Monday at 6:00 PM.
Attendees of the gardening club meetings can expect brainstorming sessions on new projects and event ideas, and discussions of all thing’s plants. “My club goals are to get other students interested in gardening and to work on some projects around campus. I take notice of the landscaping at locations, and I would love to see some visual improvements to add to the beauty on campus,” Dick told The Critic. He expressed continued interest in smaller events that allowed attendees to “get their hands dirty” and non-gardening-related projects like decorating the campus with holiday lights. There are also talks of a succulent event in the future.
The club has already planted garlic cloves in the flower beds outside of Harvey Academic Center and the dining hall.
They also have plans to plant 800 tulip bulbs all over campus this weekend. The club will meet in Veterans Park around noon and make their way around campus. The tulips should sprout after the snow melts next semester.