Ashland University’s Green Team partnered with a number of different organizations on campus to celebrate Earth Week, which took place last week. Because of these collaborations, there was much more interest than in past years.

The biggest turnout was seen at the “Revive” Green Fashion Show, a collaborative effort between fashion merchandising and the Green Team. Over 350 people filled Upper Convo for the event.

“[It] was huge,” Maureen Heacock said, a co-leader of the Green Team.

Unlike last year’s event that was planned by the Green Team, the fashion merchandising students designed the outfits and setting for the show.

Sarah Muse, recycling coordinator and co-chair of Earth Week, was pleased with how the show turned out.

“The fashion students knew exactly what they wanted to do in a fashion show,” Muse said. “We didn’t have that kind of background [last year].”

Muse said that preparations for the fashion show began far in advance of this year’s Earth Week as well.

“We started coordinating about last June,” Muse said.

Another of the week’s events was cleaning up the Moss Hill stream, located behind the fraternity houses. Kohler liked this event because of the stream’s proximity.

“[Moss Hill stream] is the students’ backyard,” Kohler said. “[We weren’t] going out to an area that they’re not familiar with.”

The stream cleanup was planned in conjunction with the Tri-Beta honorary, a biology organization that does similar cleanups elsewhere during the year.

Green Team even tied in an event that encouraged local children to participate in the Earth Week celebrations.

It sponsored a poster contest that asked elementary students from around the Ashland community to submit posters that had a green theme.

The posters were displayed in the Hawkins-Conard Student Center.

There was a bin located in the Recreation Center all week – and will continue to be next to the entrance through Friday – where students can place old shoes for recycling.

Nike’s Reuse-a-shoe is a national program that turns used shoes into substances such as soft concrete.

Other events over the course of the week included the recycled percussion and Hawkins’ bag decorating, emissions testing, all-natural tie dying and green storytime (which was coordinated with the Youth and Literacy team).

The scheduling of spring break forced the Green Team to schedule their Earth Week a few weeks earlier than the national week.

The official Earth Week will run April 17-22.