by Samantha Dominique
Oswego, NY- “Perk Up” is a new campaign started by the Office of Sustainability at SUNY Oswego. Their goal is to reduce plastic waste on campus through reusable coffee cups.
The campaign was introduced at the beginning of the spring semester after last year’s “Tap In” campaign helped to reduce plastic water bottle waste on campus
Student Outreach Intern Brielle Jodeit says the campaign has been very effective so far.
“We have saved almost 2,000 coffee cups from entering the landfills,” she said.
Through the app Cupanion, users are able to receive free coffee on Fridays from 10am-1pm at the Office of Sustainability located inside Hewitt Union. All users have to do is bring their reusable cup or pick one up at the office and scan the code. They also have a chance to win other prizes through the Cupanion app itself.
“Perk Up” will be continuing in the fall with a fresh face ready to further reduce plastic waste on campus.
The Office of Sustainability tables every Wednesday in the Marano Campus Center.
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Student Association Update: February 2nd
The Student Association held their weekly Senate meeting Tuesday evening. The second meeting of the semester began after the number of senators required to begin were met and the meeting’s agenda and minutes were approved.
SUNY Oswego’s Ecology Club was one of four guests to the Senate that evening, and began by requesting additional funding for the spring semester. The Ecology Club requested funds to help support the club’s growth. The funds would go towards the cost of gas, hotel stays, bird seed and feeders, as well as, material such as gloves and towels for their volunteer work in the community. The largest expense would be an end of the year trip to go whale watching. The funds requested include this trip and will help defer some of the cost to students. Three senators volunteered to write the bill for the budget, which will be proposed and voted on at a future meeting.
The second guest to the Senate was SUNY Oswego’s Table Tennis Club. They requested funding for the Women’s Team regional tournament trip, where 10 members will compete in the Great Lakes Regional Tournament. The tournament will take place the weekend of February 27th, 2016. The Table Tennis Club requested the funding to help pay for their travel expenses. The team’s entrance into the tournament came as a pleasant surprise to many. The bill for the budget will be written by three senators, and will be proposed and voted on later this semester.
The National Broadcasting Society was the third guest to the Senate and requested funding for a trip to the 2016 NBS Convention in Los Angeles. Last year was the first time the National Broadcasting Society attended the convention, and hope to send three students again this year. They requested funding to help pay for their travel costs. To help offset the total cost of the trip, they have also partnered with local restaurants, YoBerry and Fajita Grill in hopes of raising the rest of the funds for the trip. Three senators volunteered to write the bill for this budget that will be proposed and voted on, prior to the National Broadcasting Society’s trip.
The fourth and final guest to the Senate was the National Association of Black Accountants. In hopes of hosting a Business Gala this semester, they requested fund to help pay for the event. Funding was requested for catering, a keynote speaker, advertisements, and entertainment. The event will allow students, particularly business majors, to network, make connections and learn from successful businessmen and women who are working in the field. The bill for this budget will be written by three senators and proposed and voted on at a future meeting.
Following the guests, Student Association President Christopher Collins-McNeil, addressed the Senate for the last time in his executive reports. Collins-McNeil will be resigning his position after accepting a job with the Mosby for Mayor Campaign in Baltimore, MD. Collins-McNeil has been involved in SA since his freshmen year at SUNY Oswego. When he became SA President, Collins-McNeil revealed, he wanted to make his presidency about advocacy and feels he can respectively say he accomplished that task. Collins-McNeil requested his SA Presidency be assumed by Student Association Vice President Emily Nassir.
Nassir, when offered the position, accepted and upon swearing in, assumed the role of Student Association President. Nassir announced her first project as SA President was what she called, “SA Assembly;” a monthly meeting of both the Student Association Assembly board and representatives from student organizations. Nassir hopes these meetings will build a stronger connection between SA and the organizations they represent.
Senator Shelby Gallaro was nominated to fill the now vacant seat of SA Vice President. After a ballot vote, Gallaro was successfully voted in as the new Student Association Vice President.
Finishing off executive reports was Matthew Peters, Student Association Director of Finance. Peters announced that the OzFest Committee had met and discussed the 2016 budget for the end of the semester event. Peters stated that ticket prices for OzFest will need to drop, in order to draw more students to the event’s concert.
In committee reports, Senators Christ and Himberger nominated themselves for the position of Chair of the Involvement Committee. Senator Gallaro had been the prior chair, but due to her new role as SA Vice President, she had resigned. Following a ballot vote, Senator Christ was elected Chair of the Involvement Committee.
Hall Council Reports and General orders were suspended due to time constraint, so all general orders for this week were moved to next week.
Student Association meets Tuesday nights at 6pm, in Lanigan 106. All meetings are open to the public and all are encouraged to attend.
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Pinwheels for Prevention
In honor of April being national child abuse prevention month Oswego’s Child Advocacy Center, located in Fulton, New York, has set out to spread awareness through Oswego County by placing blue and white pinwheels around the area.
These pinwheels are a part of a national campaign that multiple organizations take part in, in order to spread awareness of child abuse through communities and get the conversation started that children need to be looked out for not only by their families but their community as well.
Executive Director of Oswego County Child Advocacy Center, Karrie Damm, gave some insight as to why the Pinwheels are placed throughout the County “The pinwheel gardens that you see throughout the community are intended to start a conversation. We would like people to see those and have a conversation amongst themselves, amongst their friends, and especially with their children.” Although the conversation may seem touchy Karrie stressed how important it is to begin having conversations about serious issues such as this one. Because the first step to preventing incidents is spreading awareness, which the conversations help to achieve.
Although the child advocacy center is not well known throughout Oswego County it is an important organization that more people should get involved with. Take Craig Stewart for example, he is an electrician for the building, but STILL volunteers and aids the employees there because he does it for the unfortunate children that have to seek help at the organization.
If you would like to volunteer as well you can visit that website at oswegocac.org, Facebook message them, or call them. If you are not able to volunteer and would still like to help out this organization you can make a donation right on their website.
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Oswego Farmer’s Market season extended
By Xuefan Shi
OSWEGO, NY– The Oswego Farmer’s Market held every Thursday on West First Street was supposed to close for the season by October 5th. This year the market will extend their season an extra two weeks.
The Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce, the non-profit organization in charge of the farmers market, cooperated with the city of Oswego to extend their season a few more weeks.
Oswego Farmer’s Market Manager Gene Schoonmakerfranczek said that the extension is the result of apple season. “This is the middle of apple country. And we are still in the middle of apple season. It is not so fair for the farmers to quit that early.”
GMB Beckens Farm Owner Sherri Bauer said she found out when she arrived at the market and is is very excited about the extension.The last day of the Oswego Farmer’s Market will be Thursday, October 19, until next Spring. Farmers from the market will continue to travel to Syracuse where a farmers market will be held until Thanksgiving day.
For more information on the Oswego Farmer’s Market, visit their Facebook https://www.facebook.com/oswegofarmmarket/
