The St. Ambrose community seems to be ever-changing to respond to the demands of students. GreenLife is a group that is helping to continue the evolution of our campus, and the club is headed by this week’s Campus Celebrity, Lizzy Oberhoffer.
The Dubuque native is a senior, double majoring in biology and English with a minor in environmental studies. She is the president of GreenLife, a club that has been prominent around campus in recent years. Although it has become very visible as of late, it was actually started about 12 years ago by passionate students, with the supervision of Father Bud.
However, its activity has been dependent on the interest of students. As of late, many students around campus have followed Lizzy’s lead to make Ambrose a greener place.
As president of GreenLife, Lizzy acts as a student liaison for the sustainability committee, which works towards implementing changes around Ambrose. She also leads meetings for Green Life, facilitating discussion and execution of fun and educational events for students.
Through GreenLife, Lizzy has been a part of many big improvements that impact the daily life of collegiettes™. Last year, the club brought a petition to Sister Joan with the signature of 400 students, asking the administration to “adopt a series of environmentally friendly changes.” This petition, along with the work of the sustainability committee, allowed the thermostat limits to be lowered in buildings on campus to conserve energy. Additionally, GreenLife has had plastic water bottles removed from campus vending machines, had high-powered hand driers installed in Rogalski Center bathrooms, and has started a student-supported garden that grows foods for the Cosgrove Cafeteria.
Lizzy and GreenLife are currently working hard to continue making green changes among the Ambrose community. Their most recent project is a “visual green infraction demonstration.” This means that they will be going around campus “ticketing” things that are not environmentally friendly to raise awareness. A display will be put up in the library with the completion of this project.
Want to get involved in GreenLife? Lizzy encourages collegiettes™ to attend a weekly meeting on Thursdays at 4:30 in the Beehive or contact her (OberhofferElizabethJ@sau.edu) or Fr. Bud (GrantRobert@sau.edu). She also is open to new ideas.
“If students have ‘green’ initiatives they are interested in bringing to campus, GreenLife can be a really good outlet to get the ball rolling on them. We love getting new members so check us out!”
Even if you don’t have time to add another club into your already busy schedule, Lizzy suggests an easy way to change your daily life and make the Ambrose community just a bit greener.
“Students can switch from buying bottled water to using reusable water bottles.”
Lizzy is passionate about environmental topics, and that is clear from her desire to make the world a greener place. If she could make one change, she says she would “make environmental awareness a part of school curriculums and everyone’s everyday lives. Living with a lower impact needs to be integrated into daily life, not just something that is done when it’s convenient or trendy. I think education is an important way to make that a reality.”
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SAU chapter.