Do you use a reusable water bottle at Café on the Way and Dashes? You might want to. From Feb. 6 to Feb. 17, a competition between Dashes and Cafe on the Way will encourage students to reduce their waste from the to-go centers and challenge them to think differently about recycling. The competition is a part of the sophomore Presidential Scholar Think Tank project on sustainability. “Our goal for our Think Tank project is to reduce the amount of waste on campus and do that in a positive way so students are excited about it and can see the benefits of it,” said Beth Monnier, a sophomore English and economics major and member of the Think Tank group. Students who bring their own cup to Dashes or Café on the Way will be eligible to enter their name in a drawing for a prize. A scoreboard outside each of the dining facilities will indicate how many students used their own cup out of the total meals purchased for the day. The dining facility with the highest percentage of students using reusable cups at the end of the competition will win, and the student whose name is drawn from that facility's raffle will win the grand prize. The prizes include gift certificates, an iPod, and a 16GB iPad, so start using your reusable bottle today!

Do you ever think about how we get all the power needed to run the UNI campus? On Thursday, February 2, the freshmen presidential scholars explored the source of this power, as they toured the UNI Steam Plant. The tour was part of this semester’s presidential seminar about earth resources. Throughout the course of the semester, the students will be visiting four different destinations. A goal of the course is to learn more about how we use the limited supply of resources found on our planet. The steam plant was a particularly interesting destination, as students got to experience the production of power from coal firsthand. Other points of interest from the tour included visiting the roof and underground passageways.

If you’d like to get a sampling of what was learned, here are some interesting facts about the UNI Steal Plant!

• The plant operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
• 40.5% of power for the UNI campus is produced here. The other 59.5% is purchased from Cedar Falls Utilities.
• In 2010, the plant produced 763,748,000 pounds of steam.
• The plant consumed 25,939 tons of coal, or 1,037 semi-truck loads, as well as 11.921 tons of petroleum coke and 7,746 gallons of #2 fuel oil.
• The estimated replacement value of the UNI Steam Plant is $65,000,000.

Many college students miss the days where they could dress up in outrageous costumes and go door-to-door receiving food and candy. However, this Halloween, Honors Student Advisory Board members did just that, while simultaneously helping a good cause. The project, called Trick-Or-Eat, involved trick-or-treating to receive donations of nonperishable food items. These items were gathered and then donated to the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.

One week before the collection date, members delivered fliers to houses notifying them of the project, and requesting that they put food out to help those in need. Members of HSAB then came together to collect the food from the neighborhood.

This created a service environment unlike any other. The unique combination of holiday fun, local awareness, and assistance for a good cause led to an awesome opportunity. “There are not too many other community service projects that allow you to dress up in costume and trick or treat, while assisting the local community,” said Bryce Wehling, HSAB Outreach Coordinator.

Residents of the houses visited were incredibly supportive of the project. Many had food already sitting out or ready for collection. Those who did not quickly raided their kitchen cupboards to donate canned goods for the cause. Even President Ben Allen and Pat Allen donated items to benefit the project.

“Many people were really gracious and excited about the project, and even if they weren’t aware of it, most people wanted to help out anyway,” said Kelly Cunningham.  “I had so much fun because of the lovely people.”

The project was definitely successful as well as fun. A total of 433 lbs. of canned food were collected, which exceeds the amount collected each of the previous years by a significant margin. “This project was a huge success thanks to the high number of participants,” said Wehling.

Participants also enjoyed the chance to learn more about the Cedar Falls community, which they have not experienced through their classroom opportunities at UNI. “I feel like being on the college campus all day, every day just puts us in a bubble and we don’t necessarily feel connected to the community,” said Cunningham. “This was such a good way to make a difference as well as feel connected.”

 “I think this project might have been my favorite thing I’ve done at UNI so far”, said Grace Lau. “I loved that I got to get out into the Cedar Falls community…I had an amazing experience.

The fourth Saturday in October is national Make a Difference Day, on which millions of Americans set aside time to help others. On October 22, UNI students gathered at Maucker Union to participate in this day of volunteering. Applause goes out to all who showed up because almost double the participants from last year volunteered their time! The Honors Program is proud of the large number of student who representing the program on this day.

The Volunteer Center of the Cedar Valley and the Student Leadership Center did a great job organizing this event and getting everyone pumped up for the day.  To get everyone awake and ready for a morning of work, the day was started with a large game of rock-paper-scissors. With a good attitude and good company, the volunteers set out for work.

The original plan involved cleaning up trash along the Cedar Valley trails. Because the trails were very well kept already, students made a difference right here on campus. A group of almost one hundred students helped alleviate the work that the maintenance crews have to do to keep our campus clean, safe and beautiful. Participants spent their Saturday morning picking up rocks in the field west of the UNI-Dome. It would seem as though picking up rocks would be a simple enough job, but there were several truckloads of rocks to remove. Clearing this area was important because plans are in place for the grounds to become a soccer field. 

To break up the work, students busted out in the Interlude dance to add some excitement to the morning.  After all the work was done, students were provided with a catered lunch in Maucker Union. Those who participated leave with the satisfaction of knowing they helped make an impact in the world around them. The work that 100 students did in only a few hours saved the university around $3,000 in labor work! Thanks to all of the Honors students who volunteered their time!