The Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ is a little \u201cgreener\u201d these days, thanks to a new Knight on campus. Stationed in the College\u2019s student lounge is a near life-sized replica of Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ mascot Knightro, which was completely constructed out of recycled materials.<\/p>\n
Sitting at over five feet tall, the ecofriendly statue was created to help encourage recycling and other environmentally-friendly initiatives throughout the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Rosen College campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to create something that would inspire other Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ students to be more green around campus,\u201d explained Aline Fenelon, one of the seven Student Outreach Services (SOS) staff members who helped fashion the recycled Knightro statue. \u201cSince we don\u2019t have the real Knightro on the Rosen campus, we thought it would be a great idea to recreate him out of recycled materials.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fenelon, along with the other SOS staff members, collected over 125 plastic bottles and cereal boxes from students around campus, and used chicken wire and spray paint to create the Knightro replica. In total, the recycled statue took eight hours of labor to construct.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe recycled Knightro statue symbolizes how Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ students can find creative and fun ways to reuse recyclable items and not just throw them away,\u201d said Fenelon. \u201cWe\u2019ve also recently held demonstrations to teach other students how to turn old t-shirts into scarves, and how to create folders and planters out of cereal boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fenelon explains that these new ecofriendly initiatives are a continuation of campus-wide efforts to make Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½\u2019s Rosen College more environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n
In the spring of 2010, Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½\u2019s Rosen College launched a year-long effort to reduce its consumption of water, electricity and natural gas, which led to $30,000 in savings of utilities. Since then, Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½’s Rosen College has continued to improve upon its ecofriendly efforts and expects to yield similar savings this year.<\/p>\n