I love the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), known among students as the Botans, and our free access to the gardens is not something we should take for granted while we are students at Fordham University.

Founded back in 1891, NYBG boasts 250 acres of plant, fungal and animal life, along with globally significant research collections and immersive botanical experiences. Committed to helping nature thrive in order to help humanity thrive, the organization lives out its mission both in and beyond the Bronx. NYBG’s Green-Up initiative has established over 300 community gardens in the area, and their scientific research helps to find “nature-based solutions” to the earth’s climate and biodiversity crises. 

I love how close it is to campus (just a short walk away!) yet also how different it feels. 

I love how big the space is and how each part feels like its own little world — from the forest to the river to the rose garden and the rock garden to Dandelion Hill.

I love the excitement of always having something new to explore — there are so many treasures in there (including a rock garden with at least one species of plant starting with every letter of the alphabet and a 275-year-old red oak tree in the Thain Family Forest). No matter how many times I go to the Botans, I still feel like I haven’t seen the end of the treasure box.

I love hearing the birds chirping and the creek moving across the rocks and the sound of my own breath as my feet hit the ground. I love seeing endless rows of trees and huge fields of grass and flowers swaying with the wind. I love noticing how things change as the seasons go by. The bright greens of the grass, trees and leaves during the summer change to become the oranges and yellows that sway with the autumn breeze and then to the bare branches as those same leaves fall to the ground in the winter. All of a sudden when the spring comes, the flowers start to bloom and everything feels alive again after a period of rest.

I love to observe other people there and realize how much of an impact nature can have on our interactions and way of being — as you pass by, people will say hi and look you in the eye, which rarely happens on city streets.

Most of all, I love to get lost in there — to wander, breathe in the fresh air and see where I end up. 

Being in the Botans reminds me that I am a human being, not a human doing. That I am not alone in the world but deeply connected to the earth and the people around me. That my life is not all up to me. It reminds me that the library where I study, the gym where I play volleyball and the cafeteria where I eat with my friends are not singular spaces in the universe, that I am a small part of the big world, and that my circles are small in comparison with everything else.  

There is so much I love about the Botans, but what I don’t love is its lack of accessibility to the general public. 

With adult tickets costing $35 and $39 for weekdays and weekends respectively, NYBG isn’t like other green spaces in NYC where you can go as you please. 

Its priciness is all the more reason that we should use our free access to the Botans as Fordham students while we have it. This is especially important given the environment we find ourselves in as college students. 

There is so much movement and activity happening around campus all the time and sometimes it feels hard to find stillness or a place to rest. During the never-ending midterm season and the ever-approaching finals season (basically all semester), stress compiles almost as high as the number of unread emails in my inbox and worry lingers almost as long as the Starbucks line before an 11:30 a.m. class. It is tangible and palpable. Everything happening around campus, everything the students are doing, feeling and experiencing gets held in the air, making it feel tense and inescapable. 

A college campus is a really special place and also kind of a crazy thing. These spaces bring together young people from different backgrounds and identities but who share a lot of the same dreams, hopes and questions. It provides a space to exchange ideas, pursue passions and create relationships in a unique and concentrated way. I can feel that really strongly on Rose Hill’s campus. There is a certain rhythm to it you can feel as you walk around, an energy that emanates through each building, into each classroom and dorm room from O’Hare Hall to Dealy Hall, Faculty Memorial Hall to Così, but it can also be overwhelming and all-encompassing. It is healthy to take a step back sometimes and realize that there is more to life than Fordham, more to life than college. Being in nature is a wonderful way to gain this sort of perspective and is proven to positively impact both mental and physical health outcomes. Luckily, we have somewhere full of nature we can go, right across the street, for free! There is a different air we can breathe readily available to us from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except for Mondays.

Nature is necessary, and we are privileged to have easy access to such a wealth of natural beauty, both in price and location. With sunny days bound to be on our horizon in the coming weeks and months, it’s never been a better time to get lost in the Botans. Why not take advantage while the time is ripe? 

Erynn Sweeney, FCRH ’27, is an international political economy major from Cypress, Cali.