Dr. Don Taylor begins new campus-beautifying tradition

19,000 bulbs, 200 mums, three trees and a brisk fall day brought with it a new tradition to Cabrini’s campus. President Don Taylor began the new tradition of campus beautification day on Oct. 2.

Faculty, staff and students came out to the Commons at 8:30 a.m. to participate. Right off the bat, Taylor said how excited he was to see the intermingling and mixing of things going on all over campus. One of the major aspects that Taylor wanted to achieve with this event was building and strengthening community on campus. “If you can’t play together, you can’t work together,” Taylor said in his opening speech.

It was also an opportunity for faculty and staff to get out of their offices and meet new people. That is exactly what they did. Faculty and staff were all engaging in conversation, some with people that they met that day. People were working around various parts of the campus, including the Mansion, the Commons, the Chapel, King of Prussia Road and the walkway behind Iadarola. Taylor said he really wanted to get people out of their comfort zones.

One new face to campus found beautification day a great way to meet and talk to some faculty and staff. Matt Kaehler, Cabrini Mission Corps missioner, said that he got to talk to people he normally would not have been able to when in the Wolfington Center or Campus Ministry all day.  “I think it’s good that President Taylor is doing this. It’s a really cool opportunity to get to know some new people and get outside a little bit,” said Kaehler. “I don’t know what the campus normally looks like in the spring when things are blossoming but I can only imagine this is going to make it 10 times more beautiful with all the blue flowers popping up and the mums and everything.”

Another member of the campus community also met two new people who he had never met before. Though not as into planting, he played his part by picking up trash. “They’re in different departments so sometimes our interactions are limited,” Thor Kress, financial aid counselor, said. “It’s also [about] helping facilities and making the campus look better, which is cool.”

Many were also grateful for the chance to get out of their office and do something different for a day. One staff member got the chance to plant hyacinths at the King of Prussia entrance. “I like working outside,” Andrew Smith, mechanical tech worker in the facilities department, said. “I prefer gardening over any other type of work so it’s nice.”

Taylor also wanted to do something consistent with our core values, one of them being environmental stewardship. Dr. Carrie Nielsen, assistant professor of biology, said that she thought beautification day was a fantastic idea. Part of what she was doing was planting day lilies by the Mansion. “I think beautifying our campus obviously is important but even more it’s such a great opportunity for the campus community to come together and work together,” Nielsen said. “I think this really helps people focus on our campus as a natural resource that we share. Hopefully it will help people think more about environmental issues and also about taking care of our campus on all the other days when it’s not beautification day.”

Taylor hopes to hold this event twice a year—one in the fall semester and another in the spring semester in the weeks leading up to commencement. He also hopes to come up with some new tradition once a month that is introduced to build community.

Later, Taylor said that another favorite part of the day was being able to announce a surprise to everyone that came out to the lunch at 11:30 a.m. Everyone that participated and came to lunch was given the rest of the day off. If unable to get away from the office after lunch, attendees of the lunch are able to take a morning or afternoon off at another point in the semester.

By helping reflect on what Taylor called a tremendous resource, beautification day also helps remind people of the beauty of the campus. “We have to be good stewards of our environment,” Taylor said. “We have to then collaborate with the whole community to take care of our campus and make sure we beautify it at every opportunity that we have.”