Volunteers use social distancing to 'Plant the Campus Red' at Austin Peay

(Posted May 11, 2020)

Thirty-four volunteers – students, faculty, staff and Montgomery County Master Gardeners – planted nearly 3,600 plants over four days.

Thirty-four volunteers planted nearly 3,600 plants over four days.

Austin Peay State University’s Plant the Campus Red had its genesis following a natural disaster – the 1999 January tornado that tore through campus.

An army of volunteers moved across campus, planting trees, shrubs and flowers to replace what the tornado had taken. The effort back then was called Operation Restoration.

“That tornado is why campus looks the way it does now, and has such diversity in its tree population,” Wes Powell, APSU assistant director of landscape and grounds, said.

Twenty-one years later, a crisis of a different sort has hit campus, but volunteers still found a way to plant the campus red last week.

“We had a socially distant Plant the Campus Red,” Powell said.

Thirty-four volunteers – students, faculty, staff and Montgomery County Master Gardeners – planted nearly 3,600 plants over four days, he said.

“It was really nice to allow people to get out of their house or dorm rooms and do something normal again,” Powell said.

Plant the Campus Red has happened every spring at Austin Peay since the 1999 tornado.

“It is an all-inclusive volunteer event where faculty, staff, students and the community with the Montgomery County Master Gardeners all have a chance to volunteer together,” Powell said. “That’s one of my favorite parts about it. And it brightens up campus for the spring.”

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