By Makenna Hall, Managing Editor of Content
In an effort to involve Susquehanna students in sustainability awareness on campus, the Blough-Weis Library, Sustainability Office and the class of 2022 joined forces to create the Shakespeare Garden over the summer break.
Positioned between the library and Hassinger Hall, the new garden features various flowers and herbs mentioned in William Shakespeare’s writings. Including parsley, marjoram, rosemary, sage, lemon balm and others.
By encouraging students to cut these herbs to use for their own needs, those involved in the garden’s fruition are hoping that it will give people a reason to be more mindful of the environment.
“Interacting with nature makes people more aware of the value and importance of our natural environment,” sustainability coordinator Derek Martin said, “…so, being able to lure people out to some version of a natural space can only do good for them and raise awareness about why these things are important so they put more value on it.”
The concept for the garden started with former library director Katherine Furlong when she saw a large edible garden at Dickinson College and thought to bring something similar to Susquehanna.
The idea was mentioned in passing to Martin in the fall of 2018. Martin presented the concept to the class of 2022, who was already looking to be involved with a sustainability project.
“We knew we wanted to do something surrounding the promotion of sustainability on campus…We’re gonna try, now, to keep our class projects more focused towards that,” vice president of the class of 2022 Maddi Laubscher said.
Susquehanna Facilities agreed to the use of the space and helped dig up the old plants and lay down new soil and mulch, according to special collections librarian Meg Garnett. Because the garden would be close to the library, Garnett wanted a theme that would allow passerby to directly correlate the plot with the library.
Garnett said there is a Shakespeare collection in the center of the rare book room, and “most of the contents were donated by a woman named Jane Conrad Apple who was a Shakespeare scholar in the area.”
Garnett thought that making connections to Shakespeare’s works with something tangible would help students see the archaic writing as more concrete and real.
Along with the close proximity to the library, the placing was ideal for the Sustainability Office as it would allow students to easily access the garden.
“We definitely wanted something were people would see it, that’s imperative. Because we’re not gonna have people wander around to find something, it’s much better if it’s in a spot where people just happen to be walking by and can interact it with it without putting in any extra effort to get to it,” Martin said.
The planning for the garden began in March. With a little brainstorming from the sophomore class officers, Garnett used her background in garden design to create a detailed layout of all the plants that would be incorporated and where each one would go.
The class of 2022 vice president, Maddi Laubscher, along with sophomores James Beaver, Tara Gardner and Marnie Brubaker all gathered on campus during the first week of June to put the garden together.
The initial planting was funded by all three parties, but the class of 2022 is taking on the responsibility of funding the project for the future.
