Linfield University students are leading an interdisciplinary effort to educate, entertain and inspire their community to appreciate the McMinnville campus’ unique ecosystems with Majestic Tree Week, a bracket-style competition to pick the most spectacular of the more than 2,500 trees on the McMinnville campus.
To help voters make educated decisions during the competition, the Majestic Tree Walk happens 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, beginning in front of T.J. Day Hall. Students will show off the eight candidates during peak foliage, educating and advocating for their tree of choice. The event is free and open to the public, and accessible options are available to those with limited mobility.
Voting for the title runs Oct. 15-22 via the @MajesticTreeWeek Instagram account.
Inspired by Katmai National Park’s wildly popular Fat Bear Week, students from Professor William Fleeger’s Environmental Communication and Advocacy class form the core of the Majestic Tree Week team. Students selected eight towering candidates, then calculated height, wet and dry weight, diameter, carbon offset and board feet. Working in partnership with the Linfield strategic communications team, they wrote creative, engaging descriptions of each tree, built the Majestic Tree Week website and run the social media channels.
Meanwhile, Professor Jennifer Rauch’s Principles of Public Relations class is tasked with engaging various communities on- and off-campus, including local schools, government officials, Linfield sports teams, student groups and more.
“Overall, I’ve learned about how much work it actually takes to put on a large communications campaign. It may look easy from the outside, but it’s a lot of work,” said senior Mikayla Minton, Majestic Tree Week organizer. “For me, a successful Majestic Tree Week will be something all students know about. I want this to be an event that the majority of campus wants to get involved with, and I want it to inspire students to become more involved in environmental groups on campus.”
“The idea is that we’re increasing the presence of environmental-focused conversations on campus,” said senior Becks Mifflin, the project’s digital director and website developer.
Fleeger said he’s enjoyed watching his students meet all the challenges of Majestic Tree Week.
“It’s a great opportunity to practice some of the professional skills that are useful in communicating with stakeholders around environmental issues. It’s a chance to communicate information about the importance of the natural world to interested publics,” he said. “This project allows students to practice those skills in a way that’s really not possible within a traditional lecture setting.”
Website: majestictreeweek.org
Instagram: @majestictreeweek
Majestic Tree Walk: 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, beginning in front of T.J. Day Hall on Linfield’s McMinnville campus (location). Free and open to the public; accessible to those with limited mobility.
