Former student government enhancement committee chairman Nick Allen will have a tree planted in his honor on April 25 at 2 p.m. behind Old Main.

The tree was donated and currently the marker is expected to cost around $75.

Nick Allen recommended a tree be planted every year as a tradition of the student government. The committee just brought this idea into discussion and now the decision has been made to go through with it.

Yazmin Rodriguez, sophomore sociology major, currently holds the university enhancement committee as co-chair along with Bianca Tomlin. Rodriguez said Allen was very close to the members in student government.

“We were very great friends with him as well as many others in Student Government so we decided to incorporate it with Earth week,” she said.

 Rodriguez added that Allen tried to get the tree planted, but struggled with funding and contacting departments around campus.

Rodriguez also said their main struggle was funding as well but they managed to obtain a tree in a cheaper way.

The tree was donated by the Ground Crew, which saved the student government some money.

 “The funds for everything was the main issue but thankfully we had the tree donated by Grounds Crew,” she said.

 Former senate committee member Greg Schoonover said how the tree planting process works. “The committee used to be called the University Development and Recycling,” he said.

“It has been under the previous responsibility of the committee to have special obligation to planting a tree every year.”

 Schoonover said the tree planting benefits the university and grounds crew because it is cost effective and they overlap thus they get two for the price of one.

He said it was a basic activity that the student government could fulfill every year, which can cost up to $200. He also said what the purpose of a tree was.

 “A tree is a legacy that you leave your mark on,” he said. “The student government works to make that happen.”

 Nick Allen was a sophomore pre-business management major and appointed as University enhancement committee chairman in 2012.

He served as the school mascot from 2012 until 2013 and vice president of membership development for Sigma Phi Epsilon.

He died from a seizure disorder in April of last year at age 21.  

Alex Seidler can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].