As a prospective college student, I made the required trek last week to visit as many colleges as I could in five days. And as I took these requisite campus tours, sat through information sessions and classes and spoke to students, I started noticing how concerned these colleges were with making their campuses more environmentally friendly. Some like Wesleyan, Brown and Bard were focusing on relatively small projects like using less water in the dining halls by abolishing trays and allowing students to volunteer in community gardens and learn about sustainable agriculture in farms nearby. They all had larger plans in store as well, but one campus in particular surprised me with its dedication to incorporating sustainability in all of their plans for the future: Oberlin.

I knew before I even set out on this journey, that Oberlin would excite me. My dad went to Oberlin, so we get the alumni magazine and the most recent one was all about the green projects taking place on campus. For instance, the Farm to Fork program where the college gets about one third of its food from local organic farms, the vegetarian, vegan and bike cooperative and the community gardens. These were all great things I knew about Oberlin without ever having set foot there.

The tour I took was like every other campus tour I've taken, led by an overly enthusiastic girl who could walk faster backwards than I could walk forwards. However, I did see some interesting things. The Adam J. Lewis Center for Environmental Studies was my favorite building. There is a vegetable garden and solar panels outside. The building is basically a living laboratory that produces its own energy, purifies and reuses non-potable waste water on site, utilizes sustainable materials and avoids the use of toxic ones. It's a beautiful open building with a waterfall inside.

It was just recently announced that an Oberlin student, Lucas Brown was named a Rhodes Scholar. Lucas Brown helped start SEED house on campus, which focuses on living sustainably. Read about the history of SEED house here: http://stories.oberlin.edu/3/environment-sustainability/lucas-brown-09.shtml.

The students at the Oberlin College SEED residence keep the fridge unplugged at certain times to save energy and they take efficient showers, sometimes clocking each other to measure the fastest shower time for the day. They compost their waste. The house is all about compromise, the students convene weekly to discuss new ways to minimize energy use and wasteful behavior.

These programs and many others made me excited to go to these schools. Of course, I have to get in first, but I am excited to contribute to these great programs that have already been set in place and hopefully to start a few of my own.