Last
night Virginia Wesleyan University was honored by the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation with the organization’s top “Conservationist of the Year”
award at the annual DC on the Half Shell gala in Washington, D.C. (view photos). The
award recognized our new Greer Environmental Sciences Center as well as
Virginia Wesleyan’s vision and dedication to educating the next
generation of Bay leaders. I was honored to accept the award on behalf
of the many Virginia Wesleyan students, faculty, staff, Trustees,
alumni, and friends who have brought us to this exciting moment and have
helped to make the GESC a reality.
It
is especially gratifying for us to be honored by such a distinguished
and influential partner as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. With our
campus situated at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and within a few
miles of the Atlantic, we have a direct investment in the future of our
natural environment and the systems that sustain us.
The Greer
Environmental Sciences Center—which was LEED Gold certified by the U.S.
Green Building Council in January—features indoor and outdoor classrooms
and teaching and research laboratories, including the Chesapeake Bay
Aquatics Lab. Energy is produced by the building’s solar panels, and
nearly 60 different plant species—including trees, shrubs, perennials,
and aquatic plants—are grown in its research gardens and greenhouse. The
site’s constructed wetlands and extensive green roof prevent polluted
runoff from harming the Chesapeake Bay.
Virginia Wesleyan also
uses the waterways around Hampton Roads as living classrooms. Students
across disciplines conduct fieldwork on the Ocean Explorer, our 45-foot
research vessel jointly owned by VWU and the Virginia Aquarium and
Marine Science Center. Onboard the boat they collect data on marine
organisms, collect and test water samples, and undertake other research.
Our newly launched Batten Honors College, named for Jane Batten
and her late husband Frank, aims to educate impactful global citizens
through an environmental focus, an international study-away experience,
and leadership training and development. The program features vigorous
exploration of diverse disciplines, from the natural sciences and
mathematics to humanities and social sciences. Our current and
prospective students in environmental studies represent a real hope in
those disciplines for all of us. They have embraced the cause of a
cleaner, healthier environment that will enrich our lives, and the lives
of generations to come, in Coastal Virginia and throughout the world.
Over
the years, VWU has worked with CBF on a number of initiatives,
including scientific data collection, oyster restoration, and invasive
species removal. Virginia Wesleyan is a participant in the newly
launched Chesapeake 10 Billion Oysters Partnership, a coalition
dedicated to helping recover the Bay’s oyster populations, and a member
of Virginia’s No Child Left Inside Coalition, a collaborative effort
between organizations to promote outdoor learning.
Virginia
Wesleyan University Board Chair David Kaufman and his wife Kay served as
honorary co-chairs for the DC on the Half Shell event. Also in
attendance were VWU Trustee Emerita Jane Batten, a major sponsor of the
event, Board Secretary Cindy Rodriguez, Trustee Mary Haddad, and representatives from VMDO Architects and the Hourigan Group,
who designed and constructed the environmental sciences center. CBF also
presented Washington College with the Conservationist of the Year
award.
All proceeds from the event support the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation’s award-winning environmental education and habitat
restoration programs. CBF takes 35,000 students, teachers and principals
per year on field experiences of hands-on learning and critical
analysis. The organization also engages thousands of volunteers in
raising oysters, restoring oyster habitat, restoring underwater grass
beds, and restoring forested buffers.
We accept this award, and
the responsibility it implies, with gratitude for this expression of
trust, recognition, and appreciation by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
We pledge a firm and lasting commitment to the spirit of the mission and
goals that the Foundation has articulated and embraced so well—and we
look forward to the positive results this award will bring to Virginia
Wesleyan University, and indeed, to all of us who care so passionately
about our natural world.
