Earth Day gives Marshall University students various opportunities and outlets to explore nature in the area. With the holiday Friday, students are taking advantage of what Huntington and Marshall have to offer in terms of celebration.

Interim Sustainability Manager James Baldwin said the sustainability department is facilitating an event at the Memorial Student Center Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in which various campus organizations are hosting Earth Day events.

Baldwin said the department has been doing the event for years and the same organizations, including the MU Green Club and the MU Native American Student Organization, consistently host events year to year.

Baldwin said there will also be a showing of “Trashed,” a film that assesses worldwide trash problems, at 4 p.m. in Drinko Library room 138.

Career Services is also engaged in the event and will be available to answer questions about green work opportunities.

Program manager for internships Jennifer Brown said people from Career Services will provide information about companies with green initiatives.

“We’re going to have a list of businesses that have either green initiatives or promote green jobs,” Brown said.

Brown said Career Services offered the same information last year and people were interested, so they decided to do it again.
“I think it’s important that we provide information to students if it is a passion for them,” Brown said.

Freshman natural resources and recreation management major Moses Shafer said the Marshall University Parks and Recreation Organization for Students is hosting an Earth Day sale to fundraise for the club.

“We’ll be selling pallet furniture, succulents, cacti, herbs, flowers and tomatoes,” Shafer said.

According to Shafer, MU PROS will be at the Memorial Student Center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Shafer said MU PROS goes on various outings throughout the year. He said the organization recently returned from a trip to New River Gorge.

“We go on hikes, backpacking trips and we do cleanups at lakes and parks and we volunteer,” Shafer said. “Sometimes we have people who go to seminars. We send a couple people and they come back and they teach us what to do, like what they learned there.”

Freshman public relations major Franklin Norton said he plans on renting bikes from the Recreation Center with his girlfriend and going on a bike ride through Huntington.

Norton said he wanted to celebrate Earth Day by appreciating the nature that is right here in Huntington instead of traveling to another part of the state.

“There’s so much beauty here in Huntington, so I just want to spend time here,” Norton said. “There’s no need to go way out of my way to enjoy Earth Day.”

According to the Greater Huntington Parks and Recreation District website, there will be Earth Day crafts at the Ritter Park Picnic Shelter Friday at 4:30 p.m. The event is free and supplies will be provided, but registration beforehand is required.

Lydia Waybright can be contacted at [email protected].