By: Mackenzie Byerlee
Features Editor
Adanti Student Center Room 217 was filled with creativity and conversations about the environment at “Bring the Nature: Terrarium Takeover” on Sept. 23.
The event, hosted by the Programs Council, brought students together to make their own terrariums. Communication major Nasir Anderson, a junior and commuter committee programmer for ProCon, said that promoting environmental awareness was one of the main reasons for having this event.
“This is an annual event,” Anderson said. “We just decided to put on ‘The Lorax’ to add a little bit of pizzazz and really bring the idea about supporting eco-friendliness.”
ProCon provided everything that one would need to create a terrarium. This included rocks, fake succulents and glass bowls.
The front of the room had all of the supplies laid out on a table for students to put together their own unique creations.
The event was set up so that students could create their terrariums, grab snacks and then sit and watch the movie.
Giving students a space where they could relax in the middle of the day and partake in an activity that brought out their creative side was important for those with busy schedules that just wanted something to break up the day.
“I just want to put smiles on people’s faces,” Anderson said.
One participant was nursing major Eleanor Bradley, a sophomore, who shared her love for plants.
“I really like succulents and we have a couple live ones in the dorm,” Bradley said.
Although the plants provided at the event were not living, it still gave students something to make and keep as decor in their living space.
The zero maintenance aspect made for lower stakes and just allowed event participants to grab supplies they liked and put them inside of their glass bowls.
“I enjoyed making the terrariums and seeing everybody else’s,” nursing major Caitlin Walsh, a sophomore, said.
With a variety of supplies to choose from, everyone’s terrariums were unique, colorful and showed off their individual personalities.
They also had glass animal figurines that made it look like there was wildlife living inside of the miniature ecosystem.
The movie “The Lorax” playing in the background added to the message ProCon was trying to convey which was the importance of taking care of nature. The movie showcases what would happen if people stopped taking care of the environment altogether and even though it is a cartoon, made it clear that this is not a world that anyone would want to live in.
In order to combat what could be a major issue in the future, learning more about nature and creating something that resembles it was ProCon’s way of promoting these ideas in a welcoming environment.
Getting students together in a setting that combined fun and awareness brought together a wide range of people and ideas and created enjoyment overall.
“I really liked the process of building something and being able to share that with other people,” Bradley said.
