Volunteers 'Plant the Campus Red' at APSU with nearly 4,000 flowers
(Posted Monday, April 24, 2023)
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University’s 24th annual Plant the Campus Red event brought dozens of students, faculty, staff and community volunteers together to plant nearly 4,000 flowers, trees and shrubs across campus.
The beautification project began in 1999 following an E3 tornado that caused significant damage to the University, and has since grown into a tradition allowing the community to take ownership of campus.
“Our main goal is to make the campus more beautiful,” said Wes Powell, Austin Peay director of Landscape and Grounds. “We’re getting ready to have a lot of guests on campus with graduation coming up, but it’s just as important to bring everybody together for an afternoon.”
Plant the Campus Red brought together more than 100 campus volunteers and approximately 30 members of the Montgomery County Master Gardeners Association (MCMGA), who led the planting efforts.
“We’re here to help make sure everyone knows how to plant – how to position the roots, and how deep to plant,” said Margaret Pace, a MCMGA member, Plant the Campus Red event chair and former Austin Peay professor. “Being a teacher for decades and decades, I love being with students. And everything’s better when you’ve got more people involved, because you’ve got more diversity, talent and enthusiasm.”
Powell said this year’s event was also the first time in approximately 10 years that signups were open to the public.
“That’s important because Austin Peay is a major part of this community,” he said. “It’s in the center of downtown, and a large portion of our population drives past campus every day. What I love most about this event is that it brings all these different groups of people together.”
One of those groups was Austin Peay’s softball team, and the entire roster spent the afternoon planting flowers. Sophomores Skylar Sheridan and Samantha Miener focused their efforts on the flowerbeds by the Music Mass/Communication Building, which are highly visible from College Street.
“I realized that I like massaging the plants and putting them back into the soil,” said Sheridan, a sophomore business management major. “And I think it’ll be really cool when we’re walking into class and seeing these plants that we helped to grow.”
Miener, a sophomore kinesiology major, said participating in Plant the Campus Red was also an opportunity for the softball team’s members to strengthen their relationships as they continue their season.
“I also think it’s stress relieving because it’s a different kind of task,” she said. “Plus it gives you a deeper sense of appreciation for the grounds crew on campus when you see the effort and time that goes into this.”
Seth McDonald, the linebackers coach for Austin Peay’s football team, said he learned the ins and outs of planting without disturbing the soil through volunteering on the project. He and several student athletes worked together to plant flowers outside the Kimbrough Building.
“This is a way of showing our players something bigger than themselves and getting them out in the community to serve other people,” he said. “We have a lot of people who come to our games, and it’s our turn to give back.”