Lancer community works to keep CBU green on Arbor Day

Riverside, Calif. (March 28, 2023) – Nearly 100 students, faculty and staff at California Baptist University worked to beautify the campus during the annual Arbor Day event on March 25.

“The significance of Arbor Day is to make a green campus,” said Dr. Bonjun Koo, professor of environmental science. “While CBU is expanding, it was inevitable to cut some trees or lose some green areas, but Arbor Day can make our campus much greener and better. When you look at the campus, it is necessary to have some green area. It makes students and the CBU community feel like, in the city, we also have some resting areas.”

The Facilities and Planning Services, the Department of Biological Sciences and the Tree Campus USA committee organized the event. The committee is made up of staff, faculty, students and City of Riverside employees. Volunteers worked in teams, planting 15 oak trees, applying mulch and doing street and parking lot cleanup. CBU participates in Arbor Day as part of Tree Campus USA, a program sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation.

“The main purpose of Arbor Day is to educate the CBU community about how important it is to maintain our environment on campus because God asked us to maintain it as a good natural environment,” Koo said.

Luis Hernandez, adjunct professor of chemistry, helped oversee the pruning and trimming of citrus trees for the Lancer Farm and Botanical Gardens team. He teaches a course about citrus history and care and shared his knowledge with more students at the event. He wanted the students to appreciate God’s creation while caring for the trees.

“Hopefully those are takeaways,” Hernandez said. “Also, [they are] doing cooperative work here, so they get to work with other people and get to know other people.”

Alejandra Aldana, a biomedical engineering freshman, said she enjoys working with plants and caring for the environment.

“It shows us the importance of keeping our planet clean and making sure it is taken care of and maintained because, even though it’s been doing it on its own for so long, we are starting to lose resources,” Aldana said.

Aldana helped prune citrus trees.

“I’ve enjoyed just getting to help,” Aldana said. “I’d rather be here than just be at home — doing something to help in some way.”

Ultimately, Arbor Day serves as a way for students to connect with God’s creation, with each other and with faculty members while working toward a greener campus.

“My favorite part is always to interact with the students and educate them to be environmental stewards as God ordered us,” Koo said.