Students smash pumpkins for good cause

Students smash pumpkins for good cause

Freshmen Alex Kalaj, Gavin Mullica, Alexa Prenkocevic and Josh Hoenscheid stand with pumpkins and smashing utensils with the campus pictured behind.
(From left) Freshmen Alex Kalaj, Gavin Mullica, Alexa Prenkocevic and Josh Hoenscheid provided students a place to smash pumpkins.

Students in Derrin Leppek’s Business as a Profession class combined several issues into one smashing class project.

Freshmen Gavin Mullica, Josh Hoenscheid, Alexa Prenkocevic and Alex Kalaj provided a space for students to make a donation for the pleasure of destroying a rotting jack-o-lantern with a sledge hammer, a baseball bat or a crowbar.

All money raised goes to the Center for Social Entrepreneurship, which Leppek runs, and Titan Equity Nourish Network (TENN), a part of the Institute for Leadership and Service that offers students opportunities to reduce the effects and systemic causes of hunger and food waste.

All smashed pumpkins will be donated to a local community garden for composting, which will keep them out of the trash flow.

TENN hosted a composting drive on campus, Nov. 7-8, to collect used pumpkins following Halloween and gathered more than 125 pumpkins and squashes, which amounted to nearly 700 pounds.