Background: Aquarena Center, located on Spring Lake, provides environmental education and interpretation to approximately 100,000 visitors annually, including 25,000 school-aged children and approximately 4,000 Texas State students. The Aquarena Center at Texas State serves as an invaluable outdoor classroom for the student body and community members at large. The environmental programs offered by Aquarena Center represent a unique opportunity for Texas State to serve the educational needs of the diverse population of Texas. These educational programs provide an interface allowing students to engage in dialogue with the community on many issues, including water conservation, local history, ecology, and geology. There is nothing like this on any other university campus in America. Texas State has revealed plans for a restoration project on the grounds of the nature center, including the removal of the existing infrastructure utilized to operate the educational programs. According to the University Star, "the program is not guaranteed to continue after the renewal of the area is implemented...they will need to find a means of hosting the educational programs." As a result, the future of the educational programming seems uncertain. Petition: We, the undersigned, represent concerned students of Texas State University who urge the administrations to ensure the continuation of the environmental education programming offered by Aquarena Center beyond the upcoming restoration by providing that appropriate facilities and outdoor classroom space is available upon completion of the project.

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