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September 17, 2019 was the culmination of years-long efforts for the St. Kate’s and their faculty advisor, Chris Palahniuk. Their work championing campus sustainability efforts in pollination and food production all came to fruition with a party in the Dew Drop parking lot, timed to celebrate the opening of the pollinator garden developed over the summer.

The party featured tabling from a multitude of organizations located on-campus and off. Students and community members buzzed around the parking lot as they collected information on sustainability and tasted honey produced by BioClub’s campus hives. Event organizers BioClub and shared information on their campus-wide sustainability activities, as did campus sustainability coordinators Moe O’Keefe ’22 and Rachel Schauer ’21. The delivered a pop-up library on bees and other pollinators and organized an up-cycling book craft activity.

Off-campus groups were also present, including the , , and the . , a perennial BioClub collaborator, processed the honey produced by BioClub for the event. The J. Mobile, official food truck from St. Paul restaurant , offered the eatery’s signature plant-based, sustainability-focused fare — and within the first hour was sold out of the 100 prepared meals.

Both student organizers and advisor Palahniuk drew connections between the rise in campus awareness of sustainability’s significance and the strong turnout at the event.

“Having students excited about what we’re passionate about, and sharing the love for the bees and the pollinator commons — it’s awesome seeing that excitement and their engagement with groups and clubs on campus,” said Kristina Lodahl ’20, BioClub co-president.

“I don’t have to do much pushing,” Palahniuk said in on the event. “[This] generation is coming here with far more knowledge, expecting some things from this universit