Solar powered phone chargers, automatic bathroom doors and water bottle filling stations are all on-campus projects funded by the Aggie Green Fund, a committee that finance students’ environmentally safe improvement ideas for campus.
Any student on campus can apply for a grant and submit their ideas on an abstract to the Aggie Green Fund. The committee then reviews all abstracts and select which few they will invite to apply. Once a student’s application is accepted, it gets funded. Then the student can lead the project and implement it on campus.
Kaitlynn Richter, university studies senior and the Chair of the Aggie Green Fund encourages students, faculty and staff to submit their ideas. The organization then finances these innovative, eco-friendly projects so they can become a reality.
“If you have an idea of how to improve A&M and make it more green you can come to us,” Richter said. “We will give you money to do it because we want to see it happen. Every project we’ve funded, I am genuinely interested in its success because I think they’re great.”
Project grants are awarded in two different categories – major and micro grants. Major grants are awarded annually and involve a significantly larger sum of money than micro grants. Micro grants are aimed towards projects with costs at or under $1,500 and are awarded on a rolling basis. The Aggie Green Fund has approximately $10,000 set aside for micro grants for which students can apply for this semester.
Olivia Wolford, environmental studies senior and marketing co-chair for the Aggie Green Fund, said students from all majors have contributed ideas in the past, impacting the campus as a whole.
“I would encourage people from a variety of different majors or interests to apply for grants,” Wolford said. “It’s not just people who are environmental science majors or engineers. You could be a business major and have an idea that could positively impact campus. We’ve awarded grants to all different types of people.”
Students can also apply for a role on the Aggie Green Fund committee. According to Richter, any role on the committee is for a one-year term. Students interested submit an application and go through an interview process in April. Positions are awarded in early May.
Alicia Grahmann, agriculture economics senior and information chair of the Aggie Green Fund, said the program is a great way to help campus become sustainable and anyone on campus can have an idea that could turn into an innovative project.
“The Aggie Green Fund is a way to help our campus become more sustainable and kind of get students, faculty and staff in the mindset of living a sustainable life,” Grahmann said. “Whether it’s just instead of using plastic water bottles you carry around water and fill it up or it’s trying to use solar panels. I think it’s just a very forward way of thinking of something and it’s something that needs to be pushed and it’s important in future years.”
