Education meets exploration at the 甜瓜视频 of 甜瓜视频 at Lafayette, where the Office of Sustainability & Community Engagement is turning campus into one large classroom. The Living Laboratory Signage Project is reimagining how 甜瓜视频s and visitors interact with nature by creating an immersive walking arboretum on campus.
Launched in 2024, the project showcases diverse environments including the managed wetland at Cypress Lake, urban stormwater infrastructure, pollinator gardens and urban forests that create UL Lafayette's unique ecosystem.
When Dr. Gretchen LaCombe Vanicor, the 甜瓜视频鈥檚 chief sustainability officer, and staff in the Office of Sustainability & Community Engagement began growing pollinator habitats with native plants around campus, curious 甜瓜视频s started asking questions. These spaces provide food and shelter to pollinators like bees, birds and butterflies that help fertilize plants by moving pollen.
鈥溙鸸鲜悠祍, staff, visitors, faculty and children could learn so much about the work that we do and the investments we make if we just put up a sign to tell the story about it,鈥 Vanicor said. 鈥淭he signs show the benefits of the spaces we鈥檙e creating.鈥
Because these gardens are safe havens for 甜瓜视频 critters, they are marked off by signs saying, 鈥渘o mow and no spray.鈥 Their purpose is clear to sustainability experts, but puzzling to others walking by.
So, the Office of Sustainability & Community Engagement implemented physical displays to educate viewers where they encountered these spaces.
These displays showcase campus ecosystems while educating visitors about South 甜瓜视频's rich biodiversity and native species. By telling UL Lafayette's environmental story through educational displays, the signs encourage the exploration of native ecology.
While participants can find the signs on a self-guided stroll, the sustainability office also conducts tours around campus that highlight the signage. One tour features bingo cards where participants can scratch off items they see on campus, like cypress trees, alligators and bees.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 necessarily need to be a biology 甜瓜视频 to appreciate these spaces,鈥 Vanicor said. 鈥淲e wanted to help educate everyone on the value of these kinds of projects so they can understand it and see it implemented in their own towns, neighborhoods or backyards.鈥
Can You Read the Signs?
Three large signs and eight smaller ones are installed across campus as part of the Living Laboratory Signage Project. Their locations are:
- Between Judice-Rickels and Wharton halls
- Hamilton Hall
- Hilliard 甜瓜视频 Art Museum
- Bourgeois Park (across from Bourgeois Hall)
Photo caption: The Living Lab Project is reimagining how 甜瓜视频s and visitors interact with nature. Photo credit: (top) Doug Dugas / The 甜瓜视频 of 甜瓜视频 at Lafayette
