Learning beyond the classroom: UK students turn sustainability lessons into action
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 25, 2025) — The spirit of sustainability was alive and well on campus as part of the University of Kentucky community rolled up their sleeves to plant trees and contribute to a greener future. For the second year in a row, students from Lewis Honors College, along with the UK Grounds arboriculture team in Facilities Management, joined forces to plant trees along Alumni Drive.
The event, open to all UK students and coordinated by Kenton Sena, a Lewis Honors College senior lecturer, was funded by the Student Sustainability Council with matching funds from an LGE/KU Plant for the Planet grant. The newly planted trees are native to Kentucky, adding to the campus’s already diverse landscape.
“Our mission in Facilities Management is to help students graduate and provide them with an environment that is conducive to learning while they are at UK,” said Nic Williamson, arboriculture superintendent. “This event provides an opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience and helps us increase the campus tree canopy.”
Sena integrates service learning into as many of his classes as possible to give students the opportunity not only to think and discuss in his classes but get to work in an embodied way.
“I work here, students live and learn here and our campus is a living laboratory,” Sena said. “There are many environmental issues and we can do tangible things to address them. I want students to be able to know about these problems and have the opportunity to be part of the solution. I hope that this gives students hope.”
Twenty-five students came to the event and, after learning about the planting process, jumped in to plant 10 new trees.
Kaylee Bliss, a marketing and environmental and sustainability studies junior and Lewis Honors College student, has taken two classes with Sena and has enjoyed learning about the process of planting and caring for trees.
“We talk about this in the classroom, and then getting to do it in person makes me feel more connected to campus,” she said. “I can’t wait to come back in 20 years and see the trees we planted still here growing and thriving.”
Bliss, also the Student Sustainability Council representative for the Social Entrepreneurship Scholars Pathway in the Gatton College of Business and Economics, enjoys the interdisciplinary opportunities offered at UK, such as this one.
“Events like this show how connected things are on our campus,” she said. “It’s refreshing to get to learn something new and see how topics we discuss in class can be connected to tangible events like this.”
Sarah McClellan, a political science and law and justice junior and Lewis Honors College student, has always had a passion for the environment and has made it a priority to take classes such as Sena’s urban and restoration ecology course.
“It’s important for people to know that anyone can get involved and make a difference,” McClellan said. “I really enjoy how these classes and events bring together different people with different backgrounds all contributing in a meaningful way.”
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.