Alumni make the campus greener

The University Arboretum is 100 trees greener, thanks to the help of alumni and staff, their family and friends. On April 5, in celebration of Alumni Month, the Alumni Association organized the first annual Alumni Volunteer Day. This year’s inaugural project was the University Arboretum.

“The work wasn’t easy, but it was fun and rewarding,” says Karyn Domich ’72, alumna and retired staff. “It was especially satisfying to see so many alumni with family members willing to give up their Sunday to help keep this campus beautiful.”

Volunteers in attendance dedicated four hours of their Sunday morning to planting trees, clearing undergrowth, weeding, and trimming trees and plants. The morning began with a guided tour of the gardens and ended with a barbeque lunch. The association plans to make Alumni Volunteer Day an annual tradition, expanding the event to include current students.

The project was orchestrated by Emeritus Professor Michael Baad, a veteran of the campus and great supporter of the University Arboretum. Baad has dedicated both his personal time and money to the maintenance of these campus gardens.

(The University Arboretum, which was started nearly 50 years ago by then-University President Guy West with the planting of 45 trees, now has more than 400 species of trees, plants and flowers from California, South America, Australia, Europe and Asia.)