By Amanda Hargett-Granato | Reporter
For students with the proverbial “green thumb,” the annual Beta Beta Beta plant sale will take place from noon to 4 p.m. on April 23 in the patio area outside of the Baylor Sciences Building.
Beta Beta Beta, the National Biological Honor’s Society, started its Beta Tao chapter at Baylor in 1931 and remains one of the oldest organizations on campus. Its plant sale is one of two annual events that help raise funds for the organization. Sugarland junior Brittney Crenshaw, Tri-Beta media chair, said the sale benefits the new plant parents as well.
“It definitely teaches students responsibility to have something to take care of,” Crenshaw said. “For fellow biology students, they get to help other students out and learn in their experience while they do it.”
The plants for the sale are grown entirely by the members of Beta Beta Beta in the biology department greenhouse. Members go twice a week year-round to plant seeds and provide care for their plants, which take up two of the greenhouse’s three rooms. Plano senior Annie Kwok, president of Beta Beta Beta, said the experience of working in the greenhouse helped her appreciate a different side of biology.
“I’m not really much of a plant person, but after taking part in the greenhouse, I enjoy gardening,” Kwok said. “It brings a really close sense of community when you work with other people taking care of something and trying to work together for a common good.”
In addition to work in the greenhouse, the organization puts on speaker meetings, does volunteer work, and helps clean the creek that runs behind the Baylor Sciences Building. Generating up to $700 each year, the money from the plant sale is used to help fund the roughly $3,000 in scholarships and grants Beta Beta Beta members can apply for.
“We understand the importance of being able to afford a quality education and being able to afford research, too,” Kwok said. “We try to give our members as many opportunities as possible to fund those endeavors.”
