Caring for the Future: Students from the Faculty of Health and Physical Education Propose an Environmental Tuition Fee

On October 30, near the main building of UzhNU, students and faculty members of the Faculty of Health and Physical Education planted twenty magnolia trees. The number of trees is symbolic, as the department recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. In addition to the magnolias, several thuja trees were also planted. The UzhNU Botanical Garden provided the seedlings to the faculty.

First- and second-year students, under the clear guidance of their instructors, worked together to dig holes, carry water, plant magnolias, and happily take selfies.

Dean of the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Sciences Ivan Myronyuk says: “The students approached the faculty with a proposal to plant trees, and we, of course, supported them. They were inspired by the example of the Philippines, where a so-called ‘environmental tuition fee’ has been implemented. Every student at an educational institution is required to plant 10 trees. Thanks to this campaign, nearly the entire Philippines has been reforested. So our students decided to launch a similar initiative.”

The campaign was initiated by fifth-year student Myroslava Betsa and third-year student Lilia Mandzulych.

“The goal of our initiative is to introduce an ‘ecological tuition fee’ at the university. We want to involve not only students from our department but also the entire UzhNU community in this campaign. This way, every freshman will be able to plant and care for a tree even after graduation. We hope that city officials will support the idea and allocate a plot of land to the university for our students to plant trees. After all, we cannot stand idly by while humanity faces environmental problems,” says Myroslava Betsa.

Lilia Mandzulich says that everyone must take responsibility for the environmental situation and the future of the country as a whole. After all, many factors affect human health, and the environment is particularly important.