Green Apple Day
Decked in green t-shirts with shovels and planks in their hands, a group of students, faculty and staff members gathered around campus last Saturday to participate in Exeter’s annual Green Apple Day with a selection of projects geared toward helping the environment.
Green Apple Day was first introduced to the Academy last spring in place of previous years’ ‘Community Action Day,’ during which students signed up for various volunteer positions around the town of Exeter. Exeter decided to adopt the idea from the U.S. Green Building Council and host its own Green Apple Day two Septembers ago. According to Senior Manager for Sustainability and Natural Resources Jill Robinson, this year’s theme focused around pollinators, a topic that she thought worked very well.
In fact, Robinson was very impressed with the success of the workshops and the turnout of sixty Exonians. “It is a great community building event and a way for faculty staff and students to work together and get to know each other,” she said. “All of the projects turned out well. I hope everyone also had fun.”
Like Robinson, English instructor Jason BreMiller was glad to see students unite over environment causes. He thought both the students and faculty who attended seemed very passionate.
“Green Apple Day was fantastic,” BreMiller said. “I thought it was really successful. The people seemed excited to be there and to be out working on a whole array of projects beneficial to the community.”
From garden making to bridge building, this year’s Green Apple Day event hosted a wide variety of activities. All of the projects brought together people who shared interests in environmental change, and fostered friendships between Exonians who wouldn’t have know each other otherwise.
One of the most successful projects was this year’s Bridge Team. Six students helped staff build a bridge over a small tributary of the Exeter River at the beginning of the red train in the woods.
Upper Tashi Bista, who participated in the event, originally signed up with the intention of spending his Saturday doing something productive rather than just sleeping in. With an interest in the environment, Bista thought Green Apple Day would be the perfect way for him to spend his morning.
Bista was personally impressed with the organization of the Bridge Building project and the final result of the group’s work.
“I think all the events went well,” Bista said. “Everything was well organized, with all the tools we needed like gravels to planks laid out and ready to be used. I thought it was definitely the best way that I could start off the day.”
Upper David Shepley agreed with Bista. He participated in an invasive species project led by head of grounds Ron Johnson. Shepley found the project to be a lot of fun, as well as extremely informative and productive.
“I had a great time,” Shepley said. “My club tackled the invasive species project. We had a great time working with the Academy’s biology instructors and a wildlife biologist from UNH. It was fun working together, and we even found a tree frog!”
Overall, the event was received very positively the people who participated in it. Upper Joon Kim expressed an interest in seeing similar events in the future, as well as possibly a higher attendance.
“It was a great opportunity to hang out with friends while also helping out in the community,’ he said. “I would really encourage more people to come to similar events in the future. It was a lot of fun.”