Victoria McKenzie/ Winonan

Climate Change, an issue which has caught the attention of many in politics and the media, was addressed when Winona State University hosted Climate Summit this past weekend.

The tree building event was a project for students in GS460, who included other students in the event.

The event organizers worked to encourage student involvement in the recycled tree building contest by emailing students, asking related clubs and the resident housing association to urge students to enter the contest.

Andrew Johnson, the student coordinator of Climate Summit, said their goal was to “educate Winona State students as well as the community about the benefits of recycling and living sustainably.”

The recycled tree building contest took place on campus from 1:30-4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 11. During this time, groups brought their trees to showcase for a vote that took place democratically among all attendees. Each tree needed to be a minimum of six feet tall and made of recycled materials.

Zach Nelson, a member of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity, built a tree along with other fraternity members because they “felt it could be a spectacle that would help motivate other students to recycle,” Nelson said.

The event itself took only a few hours to put together, but the brothers of Sigma Tau Gamma had been collecting recyclables for over a month. Their tree primarily consisted of aluminum cans, plastic bottles and paper.

Despite the large encouragement for student participation, no students outside of the class officially entered the contest. Therefore, no winner was announced.

Johnson, as well as other organizers of the event, were disappointed with the lack of student body involvement, but they hope similar events in the future will be better attended and supported.