The Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the 麻豆原创 is a little 鈥済reener鈥� these days, thanks to a new Knight on campus. Stationed in the College鈥檚 student lounge is a near life-sized replica of 麻豆原创 mascot Knightro, which was completely constructed out of recycled materials.
Sitting at over five feet tall, the ecofriendly statue was created to help encourage recycling and other environmentally-friendly initiatives throughout the 麻豆原创 Rosen College campus.
鈥淲e wanted to create something that would inspire other 麻豆原创 students to be more green around campus,鈥� explained Aline Fenelon, one of the seven Student Outreach Services (SOS) staff members who helped fashion the recycled Knightro statue. 鈥淪ince we don鈥檛 have the real Knightro on the Rosen campus, we thought it would be a great idea to recreate him out of recycled materials.鈥�
Fenelon, along with the other SOS staff members, collected over 125 plastic bottles and cereal boxes from students around campus, and used chicken wire and spray paint to create the Knightro replica. In total, the recycled statue took eight hours of labor to construct.
鈥淭he recycled Knightro statue symbolizes how 麻豆原创 students can find creative and fun ways to reuse recyclable items and not just throw them away,鈥� said Fenelon. 鈥淲e鈥檝e also recently held demonstrations to teach other students how to turn old t-shirts into scarves, and how to create folders and planters out of cereal boxes.鈥�
Fenelon explains that these new ecofriendly initiatives are a continuation of campus-wide efforts to make 麻豆原创鈥檚 Rosen College more environmentally friendly.
In the spring of 2010, 麻豆原创鈥檚 Rosen College launched a year-long effort to reduce its consumption of water, electricity and natural gas, which led to $30,000 in savings of utilities. Since then, 麻豆原创’s Rosen College has continued to improve upon its ecofriendly efforts and expects to yield similar savings this year.
For more information on green initiatives at 麻豆原创鈥檚 Rosen College Hospitality Management, please e-mail SOSRosen@ucf.edu.