Eco hub starts to sprout

Students begin work on various personal projects within the Eco Hub

The Eco Hub is more than just a farm; it is a 20,000 square foot space that has encouraged innovation and education, fostered student leadership and will provide a safety net for UTD students affected by food insecurity.

The farm was established to provide fresh produce grown by student volunteers and contribute food to the Comet Cupboard. Since its creation in the fall of 2021, almost 90 students from several different disciplines are bringing to life projects addressing global environmental issues through the Eco Hub. It has also offered an immersive learning experience for those interested in studying honeybees, providing a more sustainable home for one of UTD’s apiaries. While tackling the issue of food insecurity, the program aims to help develop student leaders who have the confidence to make decisions and work collaboratively with others. Student volunteers have had a great degree of freedom working on the Eco Hub, as they are given their own plots of land to care for with others and are able to come up with strategies for how they want to use their space. The Eco Hub has slowly been blooming as the weather warms up in the spring, opening up plenty of opportunities for students to garden more.

Avery McKitrick, the sustainability coordinator who manages students’ involvement with the Eco Hub and related programs, said “we’re still learning how to mitigate some of the problems in our garden. We aren’t to the point where we are able to harvest anything yet, but we anticipate a really great spring crop.”

Students are also being encouraged to pursue passion projects regarding sustainability through the Eco Hub. The space that the Eco Hub provides allows students to take on these sustainability passion projects that wouldn’t normally be possible for a prospective dorm or apartment resident.

"There are opportunities for students to build structures out of sustainable materials for example, or grow experimental crops that we wouldn’t necessarily donate. So, we obtained this space, and when a student wants to do a project that would require some level of space or protection our office can now provide that, which is