Kate Horan
FEATURES
“Environmental service is amazing, but the best thing for me is when two people can unite over environmental service and become inspired to change the world together,” states Tia Alan ’24. Reimagine Ursinus-Collegeville is a community-building club with the goal of uniting people from Ursinus and Collegeville through the goal of environmental action. The club is a subsector of the League of Women Voters and, while the club is not the only Reimagine Project, it is the first one on a college campus.
According to Alan, “The seed of Reimagine was first planted through LWV’s Kathy Cook and alum Liv Negro, and I took the idea and ran with it when I founded this into an official UC club.” This is Reimagine Ursinus-Collegeville’s first year as an official club, and they already have over 30 members. The club has held advocacy events, sat in on local community meetings, and has carried out environmental service as a group.
The Reimagine team has developed three main values: policy, service, and activism. Alan says, “Our goals are to unite communities; I want Ursinus students to gain confidence in going out and exploring the Collegeville community through the focus of making the Earth a better place.” Alan’s hope is to involve community members and to inspire environmental action.
Participating in Reimagine Ursinus-Collegeville is important to many people, including both community members and Ursinus students. Ursinus student Antara Dabral ’24 says that participating in the project means “trying to clean up after ourselves and other humans to take care of our environment on Earth, and having policies and enforcement of those policies with that specific goal in mind, on a small and large scale.” Dabral emphasizes that “sustainability affects everyone and future generations, and that includes having access to water and air, less pollution, and protects habitats of plants and wildlife.”
Reimagine hopes to coordinate with the school to tackle some ambitious projects, such as campus-wide composting. These projects will undoubtedly take a lot of effort from many groups, but the Reimagine team is confident that the students at Ursinus will be able to make it happen. Alan thinks that it is amazing to see what Ursinus students can do and says, “I would love to see Reimagine as an outlet for future students to execute their passion projects.”
“This is our community – we can destroy it or help it grow. So many people and corporations are trying to destroy our earth and polarize people in the US. I believe that uniting through a single act – like cleaning the environment, can help us stick together as a community,” explains Alan. According to Alan, taking part in action and speaking up about what is happening within our community is essential. She believes that young people especially are beginning to see the importance of environmental action, emphasizing how amazing it is to see Ursinus students putting in the work to “plant seeds of change.”
