Wittenberg’s P.o.W.E.R. club held their annual spring P.o.W.E.R. Week this past week and was met with great success.
Junior Carrie Schmaus, President of the P.o.W.E.R. club, said that essentially the events during the week are designed to raise more awareness among students about being more sustainable.
“Power Week during the spring semester (is) where we hold events to raise awareness so that students can be more eco-friendly,” Schmaus said. “Our events are held to encourage students to save power. I think people, especially Americans, don’t even think about energy consumption, and awareness would be the first step to becoming more sustainable.”
Schmaus also commented that the events were planned with the goal to teach students about what is offered in terms of sustainable practices on Wittenberg’s campus. For example, at a bonfire on Thursday, P.o.W.E.R. members taught their fellow students about the recycling options at Wittenberg.
“Wittenberg now offers recycling for plastics Number One through Number Seven, which is a really great opportunity because different types of plastics can now be recycled right on campus,” said Schumaus. “Solo cups can be recycled after parties, among other things, and we just wanted students to be more aware of that opportunity.”
Schmaus said overall the bonfire was the most popular event, with over 100 people participating. Next spring, however, Schmaus wants to focus on more advertising for the week.
“It was hard to get a lot of PR for our events,” Schmaus said. “We didn’t want to print flyers out because that definitely wouldn’t have been sustainable. But next year, I think we will work with social media more. The people who did participate in our events got a lot out of them and I am really excited for next year.”
The P.o.W.E.R. events throughout the week included a Power Hour on Monday, in which students participated by not using energy for one hour. Tuesday’s event was a recycling competition to see which dorm could recycle the most objects. Wednesday’s event was a Mock Dorm outside of the Student Center, where students could see how to be more sustainable in the dorms. Thursday was the bonfire, and then Friday was a day to celebrate the outdoors with “Hammocks in the Hollow” throughout the day.
“All in all, I think that the week was a great success,” Schmaus said. “We will work with getting even more participants for next year, but I enjoyed the week very much and I hope those who participated felt the same way and will use the information that they learned to be more sustainable.”
