Ferris State University will cel­e­brate Earth day with a series of events that aim to help inspire aware­ness about our planet.

The Professional Recreation Association (PRA) and Ferris Recyclers will be team­ing up to put on a series of events that will span over April 19 and 20. The event series is called Celebrate Earth Day! and will kick off in the cam­pus quad on Monday. Earth Day itself is actu­ally April 22.

“This year I wanted to work with PRA to be a more inte­gral part of Earth Day,” said Angela Eick, Ferris Recyclers pres­i­dent. “It just makes sense that we would be involved in help­ing cel­e­brate the day on cam­pus with an event.”

“Celebrate Earth Day! is a chance for peo­ple of all walks of life to come together to show our appre­ci­a­tion for Planet Earth,” said Leah Tandy, mem­ber of PRA.

One of the Earth Day events is a free con­cert fea­tur­ing the band Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin on April 19 at 7 p.m. in the Rankin Dome Room. Ferris stu­dent Ryan Carignan will be open­ing for the group. This event is free and the genre of the band is Indie pop.

“I think music is a great means to bring peo­ple together so a con­cert is a per­fect event to cel­e­brate Earth Day,” said Eick.

There will also be free tie-dying on April 19 from 3 to 6 p.m. in the quad. You must bring your own item to dye.

On April 20 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Dome Room there will be live music, kids activ­i­ties, pho­tos from the Great Lakes Environmental Film Festival, posters from the Michigan Energy Conference, local busi­ness tables, and live animals.

“Overall, this event involves Ferris stu­dents and the Big Rapids com­mu­nity in activ­i­ties that will raise aware­ness about con­ser­va­tion and what they can do to help the envi­ron­ment and reduce their car­bon foot­print,” said Tandy.

There will also be a Trashion Fashion Show on April 20 from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Dome Room. Participants will wear out­fits and acces­sories made out of recy­cled materials.

“Earth Day is def­i­nitely impor­tant for us to acknowl­edge and cel­e­brate because the Earth needs pro­tec­tion and it can’t help itself,” said Eick. “We are always try­ing to spread aware­ness about pro­tect­ing our Earth and how recy­cling is a way you can do your part.”

Eick added that Ferris Recyclers has been work­ing hard to make recy­cling acces­si­ble to those who don’t get it picked up or have access to it. The Recyclers are try­ing to expand their efforts and be able to give stu­dents access to recy­cling all across cam­pus at all times.

These orga­ni­za­tions hope to call atten­tion to the fact that we need to do things to help the planet every­day, not just on Earth Day.

“The best way to learn how to take care of our Earth is to have fun and we will make this hap­pen by pro­vid­ing two days of learn­ing, engage­ment, and enter­tain­ment for stu­dents and com­mu­nity mem­bers of all ages,” said Tandy. “This event is a great oppor­tu­nity to help peo­ple under­stand the sim­ple things they can do locally to make a
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