The Skyline community as a whole won at the presentation and voting event for Be the Light of Change Sustainability contest which was held at Skyline this past Wednesday.

The students that were in attendance of the event listened, voted and gave input to representatives from three groups as they presented their ideas on how they could make Skyline college a better place.

The contest was the collaborative brain child of Jennifer Mair, a professor of communications studies at Skyline, the Skyline’s Sustainable Campus Initiative, and the Sustainability Ambassadors Network. The focus of the contest was to have Skyline students come up with a project that would improve Skyline’s sustainability for the future. Three winners would be chosen by students, and $5000 would be divided up between them.

In an Email interview, Jennifer Mair said this about her involvement in the process, “I have been motivated to encourage student engagement and participation in making an improvement in our campus and community. I believe when you provide students with opportunities and pathways to participate meaningfully in improving their environment and circumstances, they will step up to do so.”

This year there were three presentations at the event. The first presentation was for the addition of another hydration station at Skyline. The hydration station is a station on campus where you can fill up any reusable water bottle with ease. This is an alternative to buying a new non reusable water bottle every time you drink it

The second presentation was named From the Ground Up. It is a horticultural project which, would over a period of time, install gardens and different planting structures around Skyline in which different useful plants could later be cultivated for use at Skyline.

The second presentation was named Green Gorillas. The aim of this project was to enhance the efficiency in garbage disposal at Skyline. An eight-week study would be conducted to see how Skyline disposes of its waste and how we could make the process better. Also teams of students which would be aptly named Green Gorillas would be trained to help others properly dispose of their waste.

After each presentation the audience would vote with electronic devices on a few criteria like how effective they thought the idea would be if implemented.

Voting on ideas was not the only involvement the audience had in the event. Before the results were tallied, students were split up according to the group they had any ideas or questions for. When in groups, students were able learn more about the project they voted for. They also could give direct input and feedback to the representative of the presentation.

“It a good way to have people’s voices heard, and to share ideas,” said Will Solano, one of the presenters for the hydration station. “That’s what college is about capturing the essence of diversity of on campus.”

The event itself, besides finding ways to help sustain Skyline for the future, also helped build some community at Skyline as many great back and forth was given between presenters and audience during the group input period. Students were able to learn about the presentations they voted for better.

“I loved the event, I felt like I was actually part of the event because it was interactive” Skyline student Nichole Harris said.

• All three projects were given funding to better help Skyline.

• The presentation that won first place was the hydration station winning $2500, second place was Green Gorillas, and third place was From the Ground up. The rest of the money will be allocated to them.

• Be the Light of Change was a successful event that will hopefully continue. Skyline benefits greatly from innovators and innovations like these.