Penn State’s CED Club reaches out to local community with world record attempt TODAY show | University Park Campus News
After a friend of the Penn State student, Madeleine Hedrick, suggested bringing back the Community, Environment and Development club to improve sustainability at the university, the two students got to work.
Amelia Wyckoff, co-founder of the revived CED club, said members have been working largely on networking and club outreach – but recently NBC’s TODAY show talked about a project involving clubs from various universities coming together virtually to break a world record.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Penn State’s CED Club had to temporarily close, but now, in conjunction with the morning news show, Penn State’s CED Club will attempt to break the world record for watering the more plants in a row starting at 7:45. -8:40 a.m. Earth Day at Tower Road Landscape Shop Greenhouses.
The attempt will be broadcast via Zoom on the TODAY show from 8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
After being contacted about the event, Wyckoff said she sent an invite link to her club’s GroupMe and that “30 people [joined] within six minutes.
“[NBC] says that [it needs] at least 250 people to break the record,” said Wyckoff (Freshman-CED and Geography). “We officially have 55 people signed up so far.”
For an event like this, there are many requirements to meet when setting it up, Wyckoff said, but communication with NBC was “pretty easy to manage.”
One of the groups Wyckoff approached to prepare for the event was Penn State Campus Dining. She said she hoped the university would be able to provide food for the event, further incentivizing early wake-ups, but has yet to get confirmation.
“[Completing setup for the event is] hugely rewarding – especially since we just founded the club two months ago, and now we’re going on the TODAY show like, it’s very, very crazy,” Wyckoff said.
Wyckoff asked all students attending the event to wear Penn State apparel to represent the university on live television.
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A group of Penn State students is advising the administration on how to become more sustainable.
The CED club as a whole is focused on trying to use more sustainable practices and involving a wider range of people than the CED majors.
Wyckoff said the club’s faculty adviser, Tim Kelsey, “really helped” restore the club.
“Sustainability has broad appeal,” Wyckoff said, “so our club welcomes students from all different majors who see the value of requiring sustainability in their majors’ line of work.”
Like the record attempt, the club is open to all Penn State students, giving it more growth potential than if it were restricted to CED majors, according to club vice president Craig O’ Connor.
For O’Connor (junior-CED), his favorite part of the club is “any of the gatherings we do outside [the meeting] room” – like trying to break world records.
Kayla Laddin, the club’s social media manager, agreed and said the CED major was itself small and club members were in “a lot of the same classes”.
Laddin (sophomore-CED) said Kelsey, deputy head of the agricultural economics, sociology and education department and professor of agricultural economics, contacted her about the club. She decided to sign up and has since become a member of the club’s management.
Marilyn Reyes went through a similar recruiting process, as she was inspired to join the club after her co-founder spoke to her.
“I’m really looking forward to creating a reach outside of our major,” Reyes (junior-CED) said of his goal at the club.
For Hedrick (sophomore-CED and Economics), his favorite memory came from last week when the club walked around the Penn State Arboretum and “got to connect and talk to each other.”
Now she looks forward to the club’s future – both in the world record attempt and beyond.
“I really want to see us involved in the community.”
