PSU-LV senior Emmanuel Akubu arranges some of the clothing available at a recent Free Cycle Friday. 学生, 教师, and 工作人员 donate gently used items 和学生 are able to find clothing, 配件, 甚至还有免费的家庭用品.
宾州中央谷. — An initiative wrapping up its first year has helped hundreds of cost-conscious 十大网赌靠谱网址平台 students look stylish and get items they need without breaking the bank.
Free Cycle Friday gives students the opportunity to recycle and upcycle their wardrobes and living spaces with items donated by 教师, 工作人员, 和学生. 所有项目都是免费的. PSU-LV校友Emily Marrero, a student worker in the Office of Student Affairs at the time, 有了这个想法.
“She had seen a free cycle event held on other campuses, 那里的学生, 教师, 工作人员在指定的日子里捐赠了各种各样的物品, these items were organized 和学生 stopped by to ‘shop’ for free,帕姆·弗莱克说, 学生事务助理主任. Due to events already scheduled and other initiatives, the project was put off. This year, Fleck made the initiative a priority for the office.
“I began to strategize on how to best implement this during summer and pitched the idea to the Community Heroes Service club early in the school year. Their team was on board and by late September our first Free Cycle Friday event was scheduled,弗莱克说. “As I brainstormed on ways to be creative and collaborative, I reached out to Karen Kackley-Dutt [associate teaching professor, 她教可持续发展课程. She and I have collaborated in the past on ways her students could complete a project outside of class alongside the Student Affairs team.”
Kackley-Dutt gave students two project options: “学生 could investigate a company or organization in the 利哈伊谷 and talk about their sustainability efforts, 或者他们可以在校园里做一些事情.” Emmanuel Akubu, a student in the class, chose to do a campus project. 现在每个组件都就位了, the first event was held in the fall and continued monthly throughout the year.
Even though his Sustainability class wrapped up last semester, Akubu has stayed on to assist with the collecting and arranging of items through the spring. Akubu is a standout on the PSU-LV men’s basketball team but said he wanted to get more involved on campus. “I never really got involved with school activities besides basketball, 我只是想做点不一样的事情,他说. “I never was the person who wanted to help out, but people change as they get older. It’s really been amazing to see my teammates bring donations. It’s been successful every month — it’s been really good.”
This is exactly what class projects are all about — capturing students’ interest and boosting their engagement with a topic. “伊曼纽尔真的把这件事记在心里. 他让其他学生也参与进来. I was so impressed with how he took it on,” Kackley-Dutt said. “This is just what I wanted a student project to be — something good for the campus.”
这项倡议对每个人来说都是双赢的. 捐助者 get rid of unwanted items and help others; students get what they need and keep items out of landfills.
“对我来说, it’s great no matter what to give back to others — recycling what you need and paying it forward,弗莱克说. “了解我对校园学生的了解, 许多人都在努力工作, 而且不止做一份工作, 支付他们的教育费用. Coming in here and finding some free resources can help to ease some of their financial burden. 这是帮助我们学生的好方法.” Between 50-70 students visit the Free Cycle Friday event each month and an average of 150 items are taken.
Donations of professional attire are particularly popular. “That’s sometimes what’s missing from a student’s wardrobe,弗莱克说, noting students can find entire business-appropriate outfits or separate items to round out what they may already have.
Free Cycle Friday is held once a month and will resume in the fall semester. Dates will be posted on the Student Affairs events calendar. Items that would be useful to and appropriate for college students, namely clothing — especially professional attire — and 配件 (shoes, 钱包, jewelry) and houseware items in good condition are accepted. Donations can be dropped off in the Office of Student Affairs.
