Student Involvement

In addition to having the option for courses such as AP Environmental Science and an Environmental Science elective, Baylor students have the opportunity to get involved in a variety of environmental projects throughout the year:

Middle School Environmental Community Service
Students involved in the Middle School Environmental Community Service program have elected to spend one day per week volunteering at Crabtree Farms, a local organic farm.  They have also visited Orange Grove to see how products are recycled.  The majority of their time is spent collecting information from local and national organizations on how to recycle various products. This information will be used to produce a brochure that will be distributed to the Baylor community with the objective of teaching others about the importance of recycling, and how and where to recycle many household items. 

Organic Gardening
Students who have selected organic gardening as their afternoon activity meet each afternoon to work in a garden located on campus and to learn about techniques in organic farming such as turning and maintaining the soil, crop layout, and crop rotation. Crops produced so far include broccoli, kale, onions, garlic, lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, melons, corn, squash, okra, and various herbs. The group has also constructed a garden fence and a storage building using recycled lumbers as much as possible. To date, some of the harvest has been sold to faculty, and the dining hall has featured fresh lettuce from the garden in the salad bar.  In addition, vegetable and fruit waste from the dining hall is converted into compost for the garden. 

Campus Recycling
Schools are notorious for creating paper waste, not to mention various beverage containers. That's why we've placed recycling bins near most trash cans throughout campus, making it possible to recycle paper, plastic, and aluminum cans.  Plastic and aluminum items are then picked up by Orange Grove and paper is picked up by Rock-Tenn. 

Earth Advocates 
Earth Advocates provides a variety of ways to get students involved in important environmental initiatives.  Some examples include assisting with the paper recycling program on campus, organizing Earth Day activities, and participating in various environmental community service projects such as the construction and maintenance of The Cumberland Trail and the organic garden on Williams Island.  The group also assists in environmental activism tasks such as LEED certification for the new dorm  and articulating personal viewpoints on environmental issues. 

River Rescue
Each year, a group of Baylor students and faculty participate in the Tennessee River Rescue, an annual event that draws close to a thousand volunteers in an effort to clean waterways throughout the Tennessee Valley.

Baylor Lake
Baylor Lake is used as a laboratory site and plans are underway to work with Aquashield, a local company to study their antimicrobial technology works in an ecosystem such as Baylor Lake.