November 1, 2013 | SharkAdmin [image 1]Many students, when asked about their first impressions of the NVC campus, say they were surprised at just how beautiful and natural the campus looks, they didn’t expect that at a community college. Most of us will agree that our campus IS beautiful and natural looking! But “natural” sometimes takes work. Our Landscape Foreman Chris Bailey has worked over the past two years to clear areas around campus of non-native plants and invasive species and to put in their place plants that “naturally” thrive in this climate. The naturally-thriving plants or “natives” as Chris refers to them, have fewer pest problems and require less fertilizer and water, and therefore are easier to maintain and less taxing on our resources and environment. Existing gardens have been cleared and cleaned as well as wooded areas. Thanks to the clearing and cleaning, nine garden areas now exist on campus, some of them have been here for years and some are new and don’t even have plants in them yet, but will in the near future. All of these areas are or will be populated with native plants. Jackie would like to name these nine gardens after our new Touchstones (formerly known as our values): Learning Creativity, Community, Openness, Caring, Integrity, Synergy, Joy, Diversity. We began the work of gathering your input for names at Employee Development Day on Oct. 30, but many of you didn’t have a chance to visit the “Make A Difference” table under the tent where we had the campus map and Touchstones displayed. So, you still have time to cast your vote. The campus map and the nine Touchstones are on display in the President’s Office area. Please come by next week and cast your vote to name our gardens after the Touchstone that you feel best describes that garden. You can also email me your vote by looking at the map below. The votes will be tallied and the garden names announced at the December All-College meeting. Even though our “Make A Difference” themed Employee Development Day is over, YOU can still make a difference by casting your vote. Hope to see you next week! Contributed by NVC Staffer Sabrina Carey [image 2] [image 3]
