Black Hills State University
EN-3: Student Life

Scientia - A student-run organization dedicated to all areas of science. Acting as a support network for students and faculty alike, Scientia holds regularly scheduled meetings to plan future events that help inform the public about opportunities in science related fields. Enactus - Teaches the free enterprise system to others on campus and throughout the Black Hills. They create opportunities to learn how to use the free enterprise system. Nationally, Enactus has adopted sustainability as a value, something that our local chapter has adopted as well. COLP – The collegiate outdoor leadership program is focused on providing opportunities for sustainable outdoor recreation. Examples include outdoor activity workshops with a focus on Leave No Trace Principals, as well as service activities such as Adopt a Trail. AISES - American Indian Science and Engineering Society - a national non-profit organization which nurtures building of community by bridging science and technology with traditional native values. The ultimate goal of AISES is to be a catalyst for the advancement of American Indians and Native Alaskans as they seek to become self-reliant members of society. This program provides many students with valuable scholarships for college.

The BHSU campus garden, located south of the Yellow Jacket Apartments, was established in 2008 by students living in the residence halls. Since then, the garden has grown through the volunteer efforts of faculty and staff, student organizations, and community groups. We've estimated that the garden requires 550+ hours of planting, watering, weeding, harvesting, and ground preparation each year. All of the produce harvested from the garden is prepared into meals at our campus dining hall, The Hive.

Enactus has initiated the Lisa Bike program on campus. This program allows students to lease a bike for a semester or year in order to reduce their dependence on automobiles to get around town. As a part of the program, Enactus installed a bike fix-it station that can be utilized by the entire campus for free to further encourage biking to campus.

Sustainability Day each October includes a speaker agenda to inform the campus and to advance communication about local sustainability initiatives. Over the summer months, a Brown Bag speaker series focuses on our campus garden. Each month a new speaker comes during lunchtime to talk about gardening, food systems, buying local foods, or healthy eating. The Madeline Young Speakers’ series has identified sustainability as a key direction when selecting speakers. The speaker series is student-governed. 2014's Undergraduate Research Symposium featured an expert on ecotourism as keynote speaker.

BHSU art students use recycled materials to create art. Art students in Desy Shoenewies' classes took an interdisciplinary and environmental approach with their art project. The education majors included garbage items in their art as they developed and presented lesson plants to fellow classmates. The two art projects both used recycled materials and teach a lesson beyond art. Students in Ann Porter's 3D design class were challenged to create a life-side cardboard self-portrait as a bug. The art students used old paper towel boxes, packing material and brightly colored soda containers to create their masterpieces. After decorating Woodburn Hall, the bugs were recycled once again. Students in the 3D class also created an art installation with plastic bags to draw attention to the negative impact of plastic bags on the environment.

Outdoor technical skills classes (rock climbing, canoeing, fly fishing, cross country skiing, orienteering, and outdoor skills) discuss Leave No Trace Outdoor Ethics and how to limit recreational impact on outdoor resources.

Student workers are employed to aid recycling collection, increase sustainability presence at sporting and campus events, and help with large gardening initiatives. Four students were hired Spring 2014 semester.

During his time at BHSU, Markus Heinrich developed a business to collect cans for recycling. He developed a specialized can crusher barrel to increase capacity for collection. He graduated in 2013, but continues to work with the University to increase recycling at football games and other large events on campus.