Happy Spring!

Welcome to a special "green edition" of the King Campus News celebrating our beautiful natural campus environment. Students, staff and faculty have been out exploring, studying and showing off our "living lab" of 700 acres. From bird boxes to open forums to award winning designs it is all happening right here at King.

EVLC Students Rock Canada Blooms

The EVLC program brought home an award for Outstanding Educational Garden at this year's Canada Blooms garden show. The students designed a "Nature Based Playspace" which included a Wildlife Village, Animal Hopscotch, Reading Area and Viewing Platform. As well as the above award, the design was also a finalist for the Evergreen Brickworks S.E.E.D. (Society, Environment, Education, Design) Award. Well done!

Bringing Habitat on Campus

On Saturday, March 26 (Earth Hour day) graduating students from the Environmental Management Technician Program at Newnham volunteered their time to construct and repair bird boxes for the campus bird monitoring program. Supported by Faculty, administration and the Outdoor Centre, the students have been responsible for tagging, mapping, and repairing over 75 boxes on campus. The EMT students were part of a pilot course that allowed them to fulfill their traditional in-class environmental science class requirement with hands-on study using King as a living lab.

ECE Students Get Out and Dirty!

Kevin French from the Outdoor Centre has been facilitating workshops for ECE students from Newnham and King. Students are learning how to enrich the day care experience by taking the children outside. Some of the activities/topics they have undertaken include: how to build mystery and intrigue into a program, why a greenhouse and gardens are so effective, designing an "Eco-Pack" and painting in the "Green Scene". If you are interested in something similar for your program area please contact Kevin French.

Poster Sessions on King Campus as a Living Laboratory

On Wednesday, April 13, students from NAT260 (Environmental Science) will be hosting a poster session in the Connection Café from 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm dedicated to highlighting King Campus as a living laboratory. They invite all members of the Seneca community to join them in learning more about our unique campus.

King Open Forum on Sustainability

All King employees are invited to attend the King Open Forum on Sustainability happening Wednesday, April 13 from 4:30 – 5:30 in Pod C (directly following the environmental students’ poster session). The forum is intended to invite dialogue concerning King as an ecological campus, and to highlight sustainability efforts already underway in our curriculum, operations and practices. For more information, please contact Carmen Schlamb, ext. 5047.

EcoLinks 2011

From April 28-30, King Campus will be the venue for EcoLinks 2011, the annual conference of the Ontario Society for Environmental Educators (OSEE). This year, Carmen Schlamb (environmental faculty) and Larry White (academic chair) will be presenting a session entitled Breaking the Circle of One: Finding Support for Sustainability in Your Institution.

EVLC and Tallgrass Ontario

The EVLC program is currently working on a Tallgrass Ontario project to develop a Tallgrass Prairie and Savannah Ecosystem on campus. The project will include prepping an area, growing the species, planting, maintaining and monitoring. Tallgrass Ontario will be providing signage for the project to educate about biodiversity and the importance of a tallgrass prairie ecosystem. For more information please contact Jane Davey.