Ken Ingram, IAA lecturer and founder of the Green Dorm Room Project, helps a student pick out his free houseplant.
Image Credit: Christina Lorenz
Friday, September 5, students from all different colleges and residence halls came together to take part in the “Green Dorm Room Project” at Jull Hall.
The plan was simple: students were asked to take at least one of the 700 available houseplants and keep that plant in their dorm room, at no charge whatsoever.
“Make a little oxygen, sequester a little carbon and bad gases in dorm rooms, and if you have a smelly roommate, it can’t hurt,” joked Ken Ingram, a lecturer in the Institute of Applied Agriculture, who organized the project.
Ten different plant species were available for selection due, in part, to the $300 grant that Ingram was awarded by the Pepsi Enhancement Fund, a fund which supports programs or events that help create campus community, appeal to campus citizens, and further the academic mission of the university. Also, Ingram’s numerous students greatly contributed to the project’s success.
“We had a plant propagation class in the spring of 2014, and right at the end of the year the students took the cuttings of all those plants,” Ingram said. “This fall my Intro to Plant Science class (INAG100) helped me get the plants over there and put labels on them.”
One student volunteer completing a certificate program in sustainability, Jason Poole, spoke of this project’s importance, saying, “I think in general, plants are important not just to the environment, but to an individual’s psyche and growth. It is important to stay connected, in some capacity, even in the dorm room.”
Christina Lorenz, IAA Student Services Coordinator and volunteer at the event, also spoke about the project’s value, saying, “One of the goals for me is that the IAA students become a part of the campus community and that they can get involved with other students, so I think that these kinds of projects are great for that because it allows them to network and to show students from other colleges what they are doing and learning here.”
Ingram, who also led the Green Office Program during the 2013-2014 academic year, hoped to raise awareness for what the IAA does while also providing students with an opportunity to improve air quality and aesthetics in their space.
From a student’s perspective, freshman chemistry major, Shanshan Jin, said, “I think it’s really nice because dorms are usually brick and where I live we don’t have air conditioning, so it is really hot. Having a plant there will really make it homey and nice.”
Ingram also hopes that this project will have a lasting effect on the UMD campus community, saying, “People know that plants are good for the environment, so having a plant in offices and dorm rooms teaches [students and staff] who is responsible for these things on campus.”
