It is not enough to have begun well; you must also persevere, and finish with resolution.

 Hello!

On March 9th, we had our campus wide Climate Teach-In. This event celebrates the history of Earth Day, which began as a college event in the 60s, during which students and Professors walked out of classes, gathered together with other members of the community, and invited each person to share what they knew about the environment. It began as an opportunity to learn from one and other, and to help make our planet better by understanding the perspectives of others and coming together as a community.

Today, Bard College started promoting campus wide Climate Teach-Ins to celebrate the spirit of the original Earth Day, and to begin to to create an interdisciplinary approach to tackling climate change; because it is a problem that needs to be solved by every person, in every walk of life. Rosemont College has been a proud participant in these Climate Teach-Ins for many years. 

On the 9th, we hosted our Climate Teach-In in Rotwitt Theater. We had two different business classes present on how sustainable work plays into business leadership, we had many, many posters created by students and Professors discussing different aspects of sustainability, and I spoke about by work this semester as the Sustainability Intern and as the student president of the Rosegrow Environmental Coalition. 

Each of these posters was unique, and each of them highlighted the amazing work done by students, staff, and faculty across campus.

We also had archive materials brought out by our head librarian and archivist Chelsea Frank, giving insight into the history of gardening and of sustainability work on Rosemont Campus. 

We  raffled off a basket (with the proceeds going to Rosegrow) which I won! (I promise I didn't rig the pull; I'm just lucky like that). 

After the raffle, poster viewing, student presentations, and my speech, we invited everyone to come outside, view the Greenhouse, which now contains our seed starts and our native plants for the Connelly Garden, to view the work that has been done so far on the Patrick Herman Memorial Vegetable Garden, and finally, to get their hands dirty with us, and plant some seeds in the Greenhouse. 

Even President Jim Cawley got to work, planting habanero peppers!

It was a beautiful day, and the theater was full of staff, faculty, students, alumni, and other community members, coming together to make our campus more sustainability, and to support each other in all of our endeavors. 

We had several people, staff and student alike, join Rosegrow Environmental Coalition after hearing about the work that we had done and the work that we planned to do! Seeing this continued commitment from our campus community to work towards sustainable development, and work towards making our campus more beautiful and more environmentally friendly, gives me hope for our future. 

One of our members, Sydney Coleman, even came to the event before her own Senior Art Exhibit Opening, which was then attended by almost everyone who came to the Climate Teach-In; this itself shows our commitment to one and other, and how our students, staff and faculty have continued to show up for each othe

Sydney Coleman, Senior Art Show.

In my speech, I highlighted this quote by Cornelia Connelly, our founder:

"It is not enough to have begun well; you must also persevere, and finish with resolution."

These are words I am trying to live by, as we are approaching the finish of Rosemont College, and words I am encouraging every member of Rosemont's community to hold dear to them. Now is not the time to give up. Now is the time to finish with resolution.

Xx Mia Hoppel, Sustainability Intern