Over the past week, nine students arrived to engage in the SOIL Project (Sustainably Orientated Interconnected Living) in a self-selection program that is intended to provide them with the tools necessary to help the campus and their surrounding community for sustainable living.

Duncan Reid, the head of the SOIL Project and the Sustainability Coordinator at Linfield, was very excited about this year’s group. “We’re looking for students who are interested in taking a more active role in encouraging sustainability at Linfield,” Reid said.

SOIL is one of four pre-Fall programs offered by Linfield, along with iFocus, AHA!, and First Clas.

Now in its third year, SOIL has only had around thirty people total go through the program. Despite that, the ideas add variety to the differing pre-orientation programs, and Reid is sure that for people who want a smaller group focus, SOIL is a great fit.

“I want to keep the program between 12-16 people at most, at least for the short term,” explained Reid.

The reasoning behind this he says is so that while he loves having people learn about sustainable living, he also really believes it’s important that people need to develop close relationships, and keeping a cohesive group feel is something that he values highly.

Over the course of almost a week, these students are engaged in a variety of activities, with a focus on welcoming new students to the Linfield community, and getting them used to the campus and surrounding area “through the lens of sustainability.”

There are several arenas where the SOIL Project gets students involved that may be familiar to students outside the program, such as in the Linfield Garden or helping clean Cozine Creek.

Alongside that, the SOIL Project also tries to introduce students via workshops such as Zero Waste or Food Values, which help students maintain a sustainable and waste-free lifestyle.

Reid has seen the changes taking place on campus since it the program began.

He has seen students come back after their initial SOIL project to lead subsequent ones, meaning that students have been taking advantage of Linfield’s sustainability programs, and come back to help others.