SCC set for Earth Day 2010 celebration

By HEATHER PYLES, Staff Writer

Somerset — Earth Day is coming up, and with it comes Somerset Community College’s annual Earth Day Celebration.

Old favorites will be returning for the 2010 celebration at SCC, which is in its fifth year, and organizers are hoping the community will enjoy some of the new events they have to offer this year as well.

“There will definitely be both educational and fun activities,” said Loris Sherman, chair of the Earth Day Celebration Planning Committee.

Sherman, an SCC professor and PRIDE Club leader, said they’re most excited about a butterfly house that will be available for people to walk through during the celebration.

Some 150 adult Painted Lady butterflies will be released in the enclosure, which was purchased thanks to a grant through PRIDE (Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment).

Individuals will also be given the opportunity to learn about planting certain plants that can foster a butterfly population.

“People love butterflies, but they don’t understand they’re in danger,” Sherman said. “We are seeing a huge decline in butterflies.”

Butterflies hold a specific niche in the ecosystem with their pollination, just like bees, and with changes in the environment — think more environmental hazards, fewer green spaces, etc. — their populations can be significantly impacted.

There will also be a limited number of plants used for butterfly gardens to give away at the butterfly house.

“It’ll be a learning experience for all of us,” Sherman said with a laugh.

Those who attend the celebration, which has grown in size every year, will also be able to take in a number of other exhibits meant to educate people about being good stewards of their environment and entertain them at the same time.

A RiverWorks Discovery Program will also be offered by a professor from a fellow KCTCS (Kentucky Community and Technical College System) college.

“We’re ... getting some collaboration from some of our sister colleges,” Sherman said.

SCC is one of a number of technical and community colleges in the state in KCTCS.

The RiverWorks Discovery Program will give a glimpse into the history of trade and travel on the rivers of the U.S., and it will also educate people on ways to protect the country’s major freshwater drinking source.

Sherman also said community leaders Mark and Martha Purcell, who are Native Americans, are expected to wear traditional garments and give music and other demonstrations about their culture.

And residents from Bluegrass Oakwood will also be on hand to hand out tomato seedlings to attendees to help teach people the importance of growing produce locally.

Vendors with solar products will also be available for those interested in making their homes and businesses more green.

“We all know that solar power is very earth-friendly,” Sherman said.

Among those exhibits returning from last year and the years before are the Kentucky Reptile Zoo, the Southwestern High School Raptor Club, the Run for the Red Buds Fun Run, and an agricultural exhibit featuring lambs, chickens and Sky the Border Collie.

The Kentucky Reptile Zoo, which set up shop in Sherman’s biology classroom, was a hit among the event’s attendees. Reptiles such as an albino Burmese python and a blue-tongued skink were two of the more popular creatures available to see.

Also popular was the raptor club, which is well known in the area and has become a nationally-recognized program. Students in the club care for and work with a number of wild birds, many of which will never be returned to the wild due to injuries or behavioral issues that would make them unable to survive.

Owls, golden eagles, a bald eagle and falcons have been and still are tenants in the bird shelters at Southwestern, and club members will be showing off a few of the birds to people at the event.

Sherman said the Fun Run, a one-mile trail for runners or walkers, will be partly traveled on the college’s nature trail.

Other events will also be available, including a scavenger hunt, face painting, a Somerset High School light bulb exchange, information on trees and wildlife, a nature trail walk, a space lab, an educational puppet show put on by local Girl Scouts, and even a bee hive demonstration.

A local Boy Scout seeking his Eagle Scout badge will also be handing out birdhouse kits as part of his community service project required to receive the badge.

“I’m still recruiting,” Sherman said, noting that those wanting to become presenters still have time to be included in the event.

And organizers emphasized that the event will be held rain or shine. Should inclement weather set in, Sherman said the exhibits will simply be moved indoors.

“We’ve absolutely grown every year, as far as presenters,” Sherman said.

And Sherman — along with other organizers with the event — are hopeful the Earth Day Celebration becomes a community event, not just an SCC one.

“I’d really like the community to take it over ... feel ownership over it,” Sherman said.

The Earth Day Celebration is scheduled for Sunday, April 25 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the north campus of Somerset Community College.

Earth Day is on Thursday, April 22.

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