COPLA Students Join KPBS for Botanical Garden Cleanup
By Courtney Capar
The Joy and Gordon Patterson Botanical Garden is known as a peaceful place for wellness and inspiration, a calming oasis available to the campus community and beyond.
But its beauty can’t be maintained without a little help.
That’s where the Florida Tech Keuper Palm Botanical Society (KPBS) comes in. Once a month, society members gather to clean and maintain the precious environment.
Natalie Dorfeld, associate professor of English in the School of Arts and Communication, turned KPBS’ November garden cleanup day into a learning opportunity for students in her Environmental Literature class.
“The garden gets overgrown very quickly, and there have been a lot of invasive species here,” Dorfeld says. “We want the garden to maintain its beauty and jungle-like content, so we are just cleaning up the dead palms and litter.”
She offered extra credit to students who joined her and KPBS members in the cleanup, but one student didn’t need much convincing.
Slate Varn, a mechanical engineering senior and KPBS vice president, initially brought the cleanup to Dorfeld’s attention, hoping to increase the number of volunteers and promote the event.
“I knew Dr. Dorfeld had an interest in helping out and taking care of the turtles, so she was the right choice to help, alongside the Pattersons,” Varn says.
With a passion for animals and nature, Dorfeld frequently visits the garden to feed the turtles and relax.
“I’ve been told some students feed them hot dogs, so I make sure they are getting proper nutrients with the gourmet turtle food. They’re quite fancy in that sense,” she says.
The most turtles she ever saw in the pond at a time is 15, but when she brought the turtle food out during the cleanup, she could only round up about eight of them to show to the group.
Before the cleanup, the group reviewed the rules and specific species to look out for before breaking into designated clusters with assigned tasks. The most common things to look out for were snakes and poison ivy, but they weren’t always that easy to spot. Everyone wore neon vests to ensure they could find one another in the overgrown garden.
Once all the information was covered and everyone was dressed, Dorfeld and botanical society leaders sent everyone to work clearing out dead palms, picking weeds and shoveling the mud in the pond to even out the surface for the animals.
As he cleaned, Varn reflected on the last year he’s spent as KPBS vice president and president of Ethos Community Garden Club, a student-run organization focused on maintaining the community garden in the Residence Hall Quad.
“I really care about these clubs and getting students involved more,” he says.
Varn says he admires how Dorfeld offers her students opportunities to get involved with campus activities, like the garden cleanup day, in addition to giving them academic credit.
“If everyone just came in for at least two hours, the garden could be so much prettier than it already is.”
Natalie Dorfeld, Associate Professor
“I think all classes should be like this,” he says. “It gets students interested in the class more when they know what opportunities they have.”
Varn works alongside KPBS president Emily Lohman to organize maintenance and monthly cleanups. With all the rain and sunshine Florida experiences, it doesn’t take long for the garden to get overgrown, Lohman says.
“KPBS officially started in 2019, right when COVID-19 hit,” she says. “We’ve kind of had to start from the ground up to rebuild the group. Right now, there’s not a lot of help in the garden, so it’s really important that we work hard to preserve it and maintain its natural beauty.”
After working for two hours, everyone admired the substantial progress they made in such limited time.
“If everyone just came in for at least two hours, the garden could be so much prettier than it already is,” Dorfeld says.
For more information on cleaning and maintaining the Joy and Gordon Patterson Botanical Garden, visit the KPBS page on Engage.
