Green Campus Hosts GreenFest, A Day Of Collaboration and Celebration

By Rajsi Rana ’26

News Editor

On Saturday, April 13, Green Campus hosted the fifth annual Greenfest, a festival in celebration of Earth Month. The event was hosted at the Mill, with speeches, performances and activities. 

The event gave a platform to several important speakers, beginning with Stephanie Thomas, the Secretary of State of Connecticut. Thomas spoke on the importance of voting consistently, as well as sustainable voting. Sharon Lewis, the Executive Director of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, spoke on the current work and initiatives that they are currently working towards. 

Green Campus invited several other clubs to be part of the event. The clubs involved included Trinity Environmental and Climate Justice (TEACJ), Trinity Divests, Trinity Homelessness Project (THP), One Love, The Coop, The Sustainable Finance Association (SFA), the Sustainability Committee and the Annual Community Event Staff (ACES). Each club hosted a booth with various different activities, from seed planting to flip-the-bottle. 

The afternoon of speakers also included a speech from a few members of Trinity Divests: Jia Kumar ‘27, Linnea Mayo ‘26, Caitlin Doherty ‘26 and Carla Schmidt ‘27. “We want to hold Trinity College accountable for their lack of sustainable investment,” said Kumar during the speech. 

In addition to the educational speeches given, several student groups as well as a Boston-based band performed. Starting off the afternoon, AfroVibe Live (AVL), an Afrobeats band, performed. They perform African music, many of which are covers from notable African artists. Following that, High Speed Brakes, a band comprised of four Trinity students, performed. Jammwich played the final set of the day.

Aurora Trani ‘24 and Colleen Quinn ‘24, the two co-presidents of Green Campus, were the driving forces behind Greenfest. “The planning of Greenfest is always a big endeavor for Green Campus as a club. Colleen and I wanted to curate a fun and positive environment that celebrated sustainability efforts on campus and in the Hartford community,” said Trani. 

Quinn said, “I think it’s important to get people talking about the environment in situations that are not focusing on the ‘doom and gloom’ aspects of climate change. Sustainability is a positive topic and is easy to engage with in little ways in your daily life. Greenfest, and other events like it, focus on celebrating environmental efforts in your daily life and within your community.” On a similar note, Maliah Ryan ‘25, one of the co-founders and co-presidents of Trinity Environmental And Climate Justice (TEACJ) said, “All of the environmental clubs and everyone interested in climate and protecting the environment got to be all in the same room together, and [Greenfest] felt like a celebration.”

Much of the discussion surrounding environmental issues highlights the lack of action on such topics. Trinity’s Greenfest was an important reminder of things to celebrate, the progress that is being made on and off Trinity’s campus and the action that has been undertaken by several members of the Trinity and the Hartford community.