STUDENT ACTIVITIES AND HIGHLIGHTS, CONTINUED

Students from GEOG 3200 Sustainability visited the UNT Community Garden and the Pecan Creek Pollinative Prairie, both of which began as projects supported by the We Mean Green Fund, to learn about sustainability initiatives on campus Eden Hensen, the UNT Community Garden Facilitator, introduced the studentsto the garden and its importance to the UNT Food Pantry The students then learned about different activities that go on at the garden, and tried their hand at composting, watering, and soil testing The students also visited the Pecan Creek Pollinative Prairie, a few days after it was announced they would receive funding from the Diamond Eagles Society Dr Jamie Baxter-Slye, director of the Pollinative Prairie, described the history of the site, including increases in biodiversity, current challenges, research opportunities, and future plans, including increased capacity to host students and lab groups, as well as plans to introduced prescribed burns The ability to experience such an important site on campus was a key opportunity for the class to consider the importance of prairie restoration as a part of UNT's sustainable landscape, as well as for Denton more broadly

Savannah Thomas started her second year of graduate school this semester In her first year, she worked on researching vegetation barriers around schools for the Texas Trees Foundation The report on this research will be publiclyavailable sometime in April on the Texas Trees Foundation website This semester,Savannah has field verified the location of all trees ( 3,000) on UNT’s main campus This project will provide needed data to help understandand manage our campus forest Student survey teams will startcollecting more detailedinformation in April

Savannah has been leadinga green wall education workshopseries funded by the We Mean Green Fund This project aims to providea handson collaborative and multidisciplinary learning experience for the UNT community The end goal of this project is to create small experimental green walls with native plants to help inform local green wall installations

Savannah has also been nominated for Student Employeeof the Year for 2022-2023 for her role as a GIS Technical Assistant at UNT Facilities