BVU Students Participate in Footprint Project

October 1, 2014

Buena Vista University held its fifth annual Footprint Project exercise in August as part of its Welcome Week activities, with the winning project idea focused on how to deal with disposing of used electronic devices and e-waste.

The Footprint Project takes place during six hours of Welcome Week when each section of University Seminar first-year students meets with their instructor, their co-curricular/curricular partner and some upper-class students to develop their project ideas. The objective of the exercise is to develop and present practical, creative ideas that will spur environmental changes on the BVU campus or in the city of Storm Lake and help reduce the area's environmental footprint.

Teams support their ideas with research and evidence of why their idea is the best current idea, while keeping in mind logistics, cost, capacity and ability to implement. The projects are then presented by the first-year students to BVU's vice presidents and SCATE (Students Concerned about the Environment) representatives. Projects that are selected for the final stage are then judged by BVU President Fred Moore, Storm Lake City Manager Jim Patrick and SCATE advisor Dr. Melinda Coogan, associate professor of biology.

"The Footprint Project has become a centerpiece of Welcome Week. Students jump right in, engage with the campus and the City of Storm Lake and think critically about how we might reduce our carbon footprint in a fragile world," said Dr. Peter Steinfeld, associate dean of faculty. "An academic tone with an eye to service, engagement and action is set right from the start with this competition. Students connect with their professors, staff, upper-class students and their peers, and it's a great way to begin the semester and welcome new, incoming students to campus."

Monetary prizes are awarded to the top three projects, and the funds can be used by the University Seminar group as they see fit, such as toward a charitable donation to an environmental agency, a campus-wide environmental project, seed money for a campus study on environmental impact or some combination of purposes.

This year's top project was awarded $300 and led by Dr. James McFadden, associate professor of English. The project focused on a device recycling program that would target discarded modern electronic devices, such as cell phones, computers, televisions and other electrical appliances and their associated e-waste. In their project proposal, the students plan to seek out local and regional organizations that recycle electronic appliances in hopes the organizations would partner with BVU students for regular city-wide recycling drives. They would also like to partner with BVU organizations, the City of Storm Lake and local businesses to provide recycling bins, advertisements and transportation of the e-waste. Over time, the students hope the recycling drives will remove harmful chemicals from the natural environment, reduce landfill waste, create jobs through charitable organizations and have a beneficial international impact.

The runner-up project received $200 and was led by David Walker, assistant professor of theatre. The proposed project is to establish a rain garden along the edge of the lake near University Cove that would clean the water coming from the parking lots behind Siebens Fieldhouse on campus before reaching the lake. It would also serve as a living working lab for many of BVU's biological sciences, as well as a best-practices example for the City of Storm Lake, Storm Lake Schools and other communities.

The third-place project received $100 and was led by Dr. Beth Lamoureux, professor of communication studies. The team's project looked at ways to bring a composting initiative to the BVU campus and make better use of the waste that comes from daily food preparation and discarded food and paper products.