by Elizabeth DeLyser, Copy Editor
The freshmen class is trying to make going green a little more fun: their class project this year is a recycling contest, with pizza parties, movie nights, donuts, and cookies as prizes for the winners. Megan Fitzgerald, the freshmen class president, is coordinating the project. “We were trying to do something to go with Brother Norman’s environment sustainability mission,” said Fitzgerald. “We worked with FMO to set up the bins and with prefects to get surveys.” SGA first had to determine what type of recycling bins each pod had. Hall representatives went around and surveyed the pods in Saint Benedict Hall, before taking the results to FMO. FMO then made sure each pod had the correct bins needed and added a new paper recycling bin to each pod. Students now have three options to dispose of waste in the pod main area: plastic bottles and cans, paper, and trash. Each bag of recyclables collected, paper or containers, will earn a pod a point, which FMO will tally when the bags are changed. The pod with the most points at the end of the month will win a pizza party, the second place pod will win a movie night, and the third place pod will win donuts and cookies. “I’m excited to see how the first month goes,” said Fitzgerald. “We’re trying to motivate people to recycle with the prizes.” SGA put a lot of thought into where to put the tally sheet to prevent cheating. The score sheet is kept safely in the FMO closet, where students will not have access to it. Fitzgerald admitted that SGA did not have a way to prevent students from stealing recyclables from other pods to increase their own tally, but commented, “Who has time to steal recyclables? Students here are pretty trustworthy.” SGA hopes to take the program campus-wide in a few years. The competition in Saint Benedict Hall is currently the test case for the contest. The first month’s contest ended December 5, but SGA is still finalizing the counts. The contest will end on April 19, 2011, with prizes coming out during finals for winning pods.
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