Feburary 8-10, 2010

By: Ben Lowe

Nestled in the valley of Buffalo Mountain, Milligan College is a Christian liberal arts school affiliated with the Christian Church.  They brought me in to speak in chapel and meet with students, staff, and faculty, as part of their stepped-up efforts to pursue environmental stewardship and sustainability.

Vice President Joe Whitaker met me at the wonderfully small Tri-Cities airport in TN and, along with other students and staff, made me feel most welcomed throughout my visit.  The theme I kept hearing was that pursuing environmental stewardship is a very new journey for them.   Even so, they’ve been making great progress in a relatively short time.  Milligan was one of a handful of campuses to win a creation care mini-grant from the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.  Part of this grant was used to revamp their recycling program by adding new bins throughout campus and raising awareness among the community.  They recently completed an extensive energy audit of all their facilities and are now going back through to make targeted energy efficiency improvements. 

I was excited to get a tour of their new wellness center that will be officially opened after Spring break.  This building is set to become the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building in their county, and is a wonderful testimony of how important creation care is for the people of God. 

A lot of student leadership comes through Senior Marsha Allen who has rallied a small but very talented group of student activists together. Marsha also just joined the Renewal team as an intern and we hope to continue supporting their efforts at Milligan in any way we can.  With building awareness and enthusiasm from all sectors of their campus, Milligan is looking to continue building on these early achievements to help their campus become a regional leader in sustainability.