Activity Brought Together Eight Staff Members

To make Wittenborg office spaces even more pleasant and beautiful, eight staff members participated as volunteers in the “Plant Care Evening” conducted on 25 April in Apeldoorn. During the activity, participants gave some of the plants that are located in the school’s communal areas and offices a makeover, focusing on those that were in need of special care.
 
Some of the actions included putting the plants that had outgrown their pots in bigger recipients, adding support stakes, discarding dead parts of plants, trying to help new roots grow, replacing soil and changing the pots that were in poor condition.

Wittenborg HR Manager Maike Nuyken, who organised the initiative, said that she is very satisfied with the work done that evening. “At the office, we take care of the plants regularly, but some of them were just in bad shape. The good thing is that we managed to save every plant; we did not need to discard any of them. One of the successful cases is a plant that had been kept in a strange location, and which has now been moved to the most prominent spot so that it gets enough light and care. We also gave ‘haircuts’ to pandan plants whose leaves were getting very long, and they look much nicer now.”

She stressed that, in addition to nurturing the plants, the volunteers had the opportunity to participate in a fun-filled, team building activity. “We had to work together, because you need quite a few people to do things such as filling the pots with new soil and removing the plants from old pots, and everyone did their bit. It is important to take care of the office environment together, because we all spend a lot of time there, so we want it to be a nice environment. Plus, we all had a good time and laughed a lot, and it was great to be able to learn from colleagues who are experts in taking care of plants.”

Student Registry Administrator & Examination Administration Coordinator Babak Moghadam, who joined the initiative, said that he enjoyed collaborating with co-workers that he does not often have the chance to spend time with. Moghadam added that, for him, gardening is a rewarding activity. “I enjoy taking care of plants and it feels really good to be able to keep something healthy and alive. Monstera has always been my favourite plant and I keep one in my office,” he added.

Some of the people who participated in the activity stayed after the work had been concluded and ate takeout dinner together. Among them was Manager of Academic Partnerships Myra Qiu, who said that she decided to join because she likes having healthy and robust plants around. “We are thinking of giving our plants names once we move to the new Wittenborg building on Brinklaan, so that everyone will know them better and be involved in taking care of them,” Qiu commented.

WUP 4/5/2022
by Ulisses Sawczuk
©WUAS Press