Student Activities

STUDENT SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS

PTK student at display

MCC student clubs and organizations have played key roles in sustainability initiatives across the College.

During Campus Sustainability Month in October 2018, nursing students increased recycling and sustainability awareness. They went through garbage cans and rinsed recyclables out, collecting and redeeming nickel returnables to benefit Camp Good Days and Special Times and placing other empty containers in appropriate recycling bins. Students also talked up recycling and the use of washable beverage and lunch containers on campus and at their places of employment.

Past sustainability efforts involving MCC students include:

  • Creating a position of Campus Environment Coordinator within the Student Government Association (SGA) to address environmental issues.
  • Improving recycling on campus including participating in a recycling bin audit, which resulted in more bins being placed in classrooms and around the campus.
  • Completing research on the placement of a “worm bin” near the greenhouse on campus. Students coordinated efforts with  Building Services, MCC’s dining services provider and some biology faculty members to make this concept work.
  • Adopting a highway in Brighton by SGA members and cleaning up that road regularly.
Trash Sculpture at Sustainability Day
  • Working with dining services to find ways to use more organic foods and beverages on campus, and to use more recyclable products in their cups, plates, etc. This effort was one of many sustainability projects Phi Theta Kappa honor society chapter members participated in as part of the organization’s mission.
  • Collecting used books to send to third-world countries.
  • Planting a vegetable garden at the Richard M. Guon Child Care Center on the Brighton Campus with the children and staff. Children learn to take care of the garden and it provides some of their food.
  • Sponsoring awareness tables to help their peers learn about sustaining the environment and work with the College’s sustainability committee.
  • Organizing a light bulb exchange in which MCC community members could trade their regular light bulbs for more efficient and environmentally friendly bulbs.