From March 30 – April 30, 2025, students, faculty, and staff celebrated Earth Month at Wake Forest.
This annual celebration has roots that extend back to the very first Earth Day in 1970, which was characterized by nation-wide teach-ins highlighting the links between environmental pollution and public health, including at Wake Forest.
This year’s Earth Month calendar included 23 events, four of which were planned by the Office of Sustainability. The remaining events and experiences were planned or co-hosted by 19 different campus offices, departments, and student organizations across campus.
Keeping with tradition, the festivities began with the Spring Equinox Celebration at the Campus Garden. Wake Forest community members interacted with 15 different tabling organizations for a day full of upcycling crafts, plant-forward food, music, and furry and feathered friends.
The following weekend, students gathered at Scales Fine Arts Center for the third-annual student-led interdisciplinary arts festival, Wakeville. This year’s festival introduced a new element: sustainability as a central focus, starting with a ceremonial tree planting of three native Pawpaw trees in the Scales courtyard.
“Today, Wakeville is not only a showcase of artistic talent, but also a testament to our collective responsibility to the world around us,” said lead organizer Roksanna Keyvan in her opening speech.
Other campus partner events during the month included a Climate Policy Trivia game co-hosted by student sustainability organization dEaCOfriendly and Wake College Democrats, a zero-waste teaching kitchen hosted by Harvest Table Culinary Group as part of Food Waste Prevention Week, a Dinner & Dialogue hosted by the Office of Civic & Community Engagement, and more.
The Office of Sustainability’s four signature events began with the Spring Equinox Celebration and were interspersed throughout the rest of the month.
The fifth annual Earth Talks had record breaking attendance as eight students presented thought-provoking talks on diverse sustainability topics in Pugh Auditorium. At the Arbor Day Celebration & Cookout, students, faculty, and staff gathered to plant four new native trees beside Johnson Hall, measure over 50 campus trees to support future GIS tree-mapping efforts, and clean up invasive Ivy behind the newly re-named Hopkins Hall.
The culminating event was the 12th annual Champions of Change Campus Sustainability Awards on April 30, which honored six staff and faculty colleagues for their leadership as everyday champions for sustainability and impact through resource conservation, academics and engagement, service and social action, and bright ideas.
The call for Earth Month event submissions is posted early in the spring semester. Interested students, faculty, and staff members should sign up for the Office of Sustainability newsletter and follow along on social media (@sustainablewfu) for the most up to date information.