NEIU’s Green Conservation Group (GCG) has made much needed progress towards their tennis court gardens behind the P.E. Complex since the Independent covered the topic in 2023. As a way to promote sustainability among the campus community, GCG distributed wildflower seed paper packets during their tabling event Seeds of Sweetness.
“From the last time that we talked about the garden, we actually got some new garden beds in, and we are looking to stack them because we just found out some new information about how to make sure that the garden actually grows properly and everything is drained properly,” Stephanie Urenda, undergraduate in environmental studies and GCG member, said.
According to Urenda, another proposal is in the works with the Green Fee Committee (GFC) to request additional funding for gardening tools, an equipment shed, more garden beds, picnic tables and soil. “I got a donation from a friend of mine for composting bins,” Urenda said. They are also expecting rainwater retention barrels to be purchased from a previously made proposal through the GFC funding source.
Several more garden beds have been built and installed on the old abandoned tennis courts. “So we have been looking more into sustainable gardening on top of [the] asphalt,” Lee “Angel” Daluge, undergraduate in social work and president of GCG, said. Re-purposing an old sports court made of a tarmac surface requires a lot of research since the tarmac has a lower albedo than plant matter. Thus, less sunlight gets reflected away and instead absorbs and traps more heat into the tarmac.
The urban heat island effect is the problem that Daluge and his environmentalists have been investigating and researching in order to increase the albedo of the tennis courts. “Specifically how to mitigate the heat in the summer and the kind of the irrigation system of it all, so we have found more information about the required heights for the different garden beds,” Daluge said.
“So we went out and measured those [garden beds], and re-planned how we’re going to stack them up to make them higher or rearrange them,” Daluge said. “We also started planning for laying down some type of tarps to help lower the heat in the summer.”
Transforming a once abandoned tennis court into a prominent self-sustaining garden costs a lot of money. “Through more communication with the [GFC], we did find an extra large amount of money that we have access to that we were not previously aware of,” Daluge said. “We will also be able to do more projects for ourselves. We’re looking at t-shirts and merch and more things that we’ll be able to give away or have people purchase at our events.”
Speaking of giving away materials, GCG gave away the paper packets full of wildflower seeds for free to individuals who visited their table in the Student Union on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. They plan on doing more events like this to promote their environmental and sustainable causes either by offering giveaways, as a fundraiser or via donations to the student organization.
“I did feel like some people—once they learn[ed] that they were wildflowers specifically—it either made them want the seed packet more, or I think some people wanted something a bit more useful [like fruit or vegetable seeds],” Daluge said. “So some people ended up turning them down after finding out they were just flowers.”
During the event, visitors at GCG’s table were encouraged to sign letters to the Earth as a way to thank the Earth for all it provides for life. “Actually, the turnout was really nice,” Urenda said. “It was really nice to see people writing what they enjoyed about like our Earth.” 48 out of 50 seed paper packets were given away by the end of the event. “They were all wildflowers, and they’re all native to Illinois,” they said. Snapdragons, petunias and chamomile were included in the seed paper packets.
The overall vision of the garden is to be a place for students and community members to gather, grow food and enjoy being outdoors around sustainable plants. “We would like to put in some benches and possibly like an archway that students could sit under to be quite literally surrounded by nature,” Daluge said. “Anyone is welcome to come in [to the garden] which is still a freestanding policy; obviously we hope that everyone will respect it, but as of now anyone could come in there. If you wanted to, you could pick up trash, which is a small way to help out.”
Those who are interested in GCG’s environmental efforts can stop by BBH 202 every Tuesday from 3 to 4 p.m. This is their designated time to plan activities, events, garden expenditures and ways to make the NEIU campus more sustainable.
“Obviously coming to the meetings and helping us plan how to support the garden overall is very helpful, but even in small moments with yourself just taking a stroll through there and enjoying it,” Daluge said. “Our student garden needs a lot of help,” Urenda said. “It might look like a little bit rough right now, but it just needs a lot of love.”
