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Show Its really exciting to be able to sea something at the beginning and watch it grow. You get to sea the benefits of your volunteer worh. You get to sea a result. , Meghan Johnston and Leslie Kobinsky at the campus organic garden farmstand. The farmstand P.M. when weather and season permits. is Sarah Carver in the commons on Wednesdays from 12 to 2 a ftt S RIDE UTA When the weather gets too cold for bikes, students can always use their free UTA pass. All they need is a current Westminster ID to ride UTA buses, Trax and FrontRunner. Save the planet and save money, said Case, encouraging students to use their pass. A year round bus pass is valued at about $2,000, although Westminster gets a significant discount from UTA by buying the passes in bulk. Last year students had to sign a commitment to use their passes, but this year there are enough passes for everyone and they are automatically ready to go, Case said. The current Westminster ID includes a UTA logo on the back. Case described the benefits of using the transit pass over driving. Its practical and you dont have to park, she said. I encounter people on the bus I wouldnt encounter anywhere else in my life, Case said. I like running into people from the community. Jessica Walker, freshman, is already taking advantage of her free transit pass even though she owns a car and lives more than a half hour away. I came here once around 11:00 a.m. and parking was just a mess, said Walker. By taking the bus Im avoiding all that. Monday through Thursday, Walker drives her car to the TRAX station. She takes the train, and then transfers to a bus. The commute takes about 40 to 45 minutes. But Walker said taking the bus is worth it. I save quite a bit of money, she said. I only have to fill up about every two weeks. Her favorite part of using free transit is avoiding traffic and construction. Her least favorite part is waiting for the bus. Bus schedules are available at the concierge desk and online at rideuta.com. Students and faculty can get updated ID cards at the front desk in HWAC. ORGANIC GARDEN While you can use your bus pass to go to the gro cery store, you dont have to leave campus to get fresh produce. Westminsters organic garden offers students a variety of herbs, vegetables, fruit and eggs at little to no cost. Students can get produce on Wednesdays from 12 to 2:00 p.m. in the Commons by paying a farm stand donation or by exchanging fruits or vegetables of their own. Students can also volunteer to get free produce. If you volunteer were practically throwing produce at you, said Meghan Johnston, a senior in environmental studies and the campus garden coordinator. Volunteers work two hours shifts once a week. They help plant, maintain and make future plans for the garden. Keep putting energy into it and youll get energy out, Johnston said. Environmental studies senior Sarah Carver has been a volunteer since the garden started three years ago. She encourages students to volunteer. Its not just going down there to dig up dirt, Carver said. The garden does fun stuff too, like pot lucks and ice cream in the garden. The garden is located directly across from the west entrance to the Jewett parking complex. Just look for the big signs that say Westminster Organic Garden. Volunteering for the garden gets you outside, said Carver. You learn a ton if youre interested in garden- - ing. The organic garden has a chicken coop with five full chickens. Carver was there when they grown, were purchased as chicks. Its really exciting to be able to see something at the beginning and watch it grow. You get to see the benefits of your volunteer work. You get to see a result, Carver said. Carvers favorite part of volunteering is helping to choose all the fun, funky types of food to grow. Some of the more unusual items listed on the gardens website for the 2010 crops include okra, arugula, colored beans, tomatillos and winter and butternut squash. The biggest benefit of volunteering at the garden, along with all the free, fresh produce, is education. Carver said, You get to learn a lot about the process of growing a garden. If it werent for what Ive learned at the campus garden I wouldnt have my own garden. egg-layi- ng f gr $ gt A ssf & COUNSELING CENTER Quiet music resonates behind the sound of a womans slow, steady voice. While she speaks, bodies mold . themselves to the plushy couches. Breathe in and out, she says. Breathe out deeply. Breathe the tension out of your body. This is a moment from Deep Relaxation and Meditation Skills. The event is led by Lisa Jones, director of the counseling center. The purpose of our group is to take time out from our hectic schedules, said Jones. To introduce people to the benefits of relaxation skills. Different types of relaxation are used each week like meditation, guided imagery and deep progressive muscle relaxation. We keep it low key, said Jones. Come when you want to or can. Its not us teaching, its us doing. Held every Tuesday at noon in the basement of Behnken Hall, the event is an additional free service that the counseling center offers. The main service the center offers is free counseling sessions available to students at all times from two fulltime professional staff. The counseling center is in the basement of Shaw and run by Michelle Call, a licensed clinical social worker, and Jones, a psychologist. Counseling services are completely free regardless of credits. Students just have to be enrolled at Westminster, said Jones. She encourages students to come in if they cant focus or concentrate. Counseling is very normal, said Jones. Its helpful for lots of people. Counseling sessions are 50 minutes long. During the first session, students will fill out some basic paperwork and talk about why theyve come in and any goals they want to fulfill from counseling. Sessions are by appointment only, and can be made by calling ext. 2237 (Jones) or ext. 2246 (Call). The center keeps one hour unscheduled and open every day for walk-in- s and crisis. Thanks to the gym, bus pass, bike services, organic garden and counseling center, starving students no longer have to go without. |