In the fall of 2020, there will be a new club called the Environment, Sustainability, and Melittology (ESM) club. The club originated from the Greenhouse Projects run by the honors college and grew rapidly in popularity.
The current president and vice president Mohammed Mian and Sameer Ahmed, co-founders of the club, realized that faculty and students wanted to make the SUNY Old Westbury campus more sustainable. “We wanted to engage people in a more organized manner,” Mohammed stated in our interview.
ESM provides students opportunities to use their skills and knowledge to participate in making SUNY OW a more sustainable campus while also learning about the challenges we face with climate change. They are four major ways to get involved in ESM. You do not have to be involved in all four. The club allows you to decide which projects you would like to be a part of. The four ways are: hands on planting, healthy living website, the apiary, and community service.
Hands on planting will take place in the greenhouse on campus. Students will also learn about the benefits of hydroponics and aquaponics which are more beneficial ways in growing plants than traditional methods.
The healthy living website lets students write one-page articles about medicine herbs that they researched and how it relates to their culture. This is a great way for students to gain experience with research opportunities. The research that the students do can lead to great talking points on future interviews and bring their resume to life. The articles will be reviewed by chief editor Jewel Joseph and Dr. Anthony Deluca who is the honors college director before the articles are published on the website.
Students can also be hands-on with the apiary on campus by assisting to maintain the beehives on campus and help extract honey from the hives while wearing bee suits. If students do not want to be hands-on with the hives but still want to learn more about bees, they will have the option to attend virtual classes on beekeeping taught by a master beekeeper that provides a certification once the course is complete.
Not only can students participate in making the SUNY OW community more sustainable but can also contribute to other communities as well by volunteering. An example of this is how a group of students help save and restore a community garden in East New York Brooklyn. Community service can also benefit student’s resumes as well by filling in the gap for lack of experience. This can be beneficial for freshmen and sophomores who might lack work or internship experience.
Since the club has multiple projects going at once, students have been contributing to whatever they can to make the club better. When asked about different projects, Mohammed brought up an example of how their logo was designed by Honor’s College student Austin Young, who is a biology major.
“I was just asking him for his advice and then he began to ask about the club and then started to go crazy with the design and ended up giving us a logo,” he said. This shows that students are not limited to how they can be involved within the club. If you have ideas or suggestions for the club, ESM’s E-board is willing to listen to member’s ideas.
ESM looks forward to their first event on Thursday, September 28th from seven to eight at night by having their first virtual beekeeping class. ESM is currently working on getting permission from the Student Government Association (SGA) to have an on-campus event this semester at the apiary. This club will allow students to gain skills, experiences, and relationships to enhance their careers regardless of their major while at the same time, contribute to something greater than themselves.
“We wanted to make a club that would provide everlasting change at SUNY Old Westbury,” Mohammed said. Mohammed and Sameer will lead the way for future students in making SUNY OW a more sustainable campus.
