Rowan’s Environmental Action League (REAL) hosted its annual Garden Day on April 4. Students from all majors and different organizations came to volunteer for the Rowan garden.

The REAL club made a day to clean up the Rowan garden and put in new plants. This was a day for other clubs and students from different majors to come together and clean up the garden.

“It’s open for everybody. I am the vice president, and I am a computer science major. All you have to do is want to be here and that’s enough. It’s more of a community. People from all over just come and help us out and want to be a part of it,” said Kyle Maines, junior at Rowan University.

REAL is an action-based club. They want to make a change in the community and at Rowan University. The garden is open to any student who wants to take the produce that they grow and learn how to grow their own produce.

“We have so many groups coming in and helping. It’s such a good opportunity to get volunteers. So, we coordinate with different colleges. We have the College of Engineering, the Honors College, and anyone else who just wants to learn,” said senior Mazie Mulford, treasurer of REAL.

This REAL event was an active way to rebuild the Rowan community garden. REAL focuses on helping the community and helping the campus grow. REAL also partnered up with the Engineering Without Borders club, and they also had volunteers to help clean up the garden.

“Here we are helping Rowan students increase the number of produce they make. I am sure it goes back to the Rowan community. Interacting with other students and bringing them all together to have a meaningful impact is what I like about these events, Seeing how every single person brings something new to the table in terms of ideas, background, and how we are taking that to improve the community garden,” said Raaha Kumaresan, president of the Engineers Without Borders club.

Not only does REAL hold their Rowan garden days but they also host other events such as the Prof Swap.

“I wanted to help Engineers Without Borders and complete their community service project by helping rebuild the community garden at Rowan. I think they do a really good job of filling in the needs of what people want or need. They are very realistic, and where an organization needs help, they can provide that,” said senior Dominic Cruz, a member of Engineers Without Borders.

REAL is meant for any college student who is willing to get their hands dirty and help make a difference for the garden.

“We take anybody. If you never touched dirt in your life, you can still come out, and we will teach you how to do it. It’s not as scary as it seems, and we would love to help anybody,” said Mulford.

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