Unity College and Maine Central Institute To Hold Sustainability Day on April 16

Unity, Maine – April, 2010 –  Students from Unity College and Maine Central Institute (MCI) have collaborated on a sustainability day. 

     “Our objective is to create awareness of sustainability and celebrate Earth Day,” explained Alicia Billman ’10, an Environmental Education major from Woodsfield, Ohio, will co-lead the effort with Ashley Sutton ’12, an Environmental Education major from Lykens, Pennsylvania.

     Billman and Sutton were nominated to head the project by the Center for Experiential and Environmental Education (CEEE) at Unity College.  A service learning leadership model was developed over the past two years through collaboration among the faculty and staff associated with the CEEE. This model is in the pilot stages.   

Alicia Billman

     On April 16, forty volunteers from Unity College will conduct workshops on the MCI campus in Pittsfield.  Each workshop will focus on a different aspect of sustainability, from bike repair to solar cooking.  The workshops are limited to MCI students and will take place from 8 a.m. to noontime.

     “We anticipate that four hundred and fifty MCI students will pass through the workshops,” noted Billman. 

     “The opportunity to have such a diverse educational experience supporting a green lifestyle is exciting,” noted Carole Kaufmann, Head of the MCI Science Department.  “We are hopeful that each student can take something from the day that can be beneficial to living a green lifestyle and encourage interest in green careers.”

      The sustainability day continues several years of collaboration between Unity College and MCI, featuring events such as an address to the MCI student body by Unity College President Mitchell Thomashow.

      “This day will give students a broader perspective of what sustainability is, rather than just recycling and composting,” noted Billman.  “There are so many ways to look at sustainability and its expansive nature.  It is most definitely a way of life, seeing the world, and interacting with the world.”

      Additional sustainability booths will include gardening, sustainable art, shelter building, fire building and awareness, backyard wildlife rehabilitation, medicinal herbs, a natural hygiene workshop teaching students how to make their own shampoo, deodorant, soap, and other products, among others.

     Unity College is a small private college in rural Maine that provides dedicated, engaged students with a liberal arts education which emphasizes the environment and natural resources.  Unity College graduates are prepared to be environmental stewards, effective leaders, and responsible citizens through active learning experiences within a supportive community.