Students returning to Gustavus will notice a very vibrant change in the basement of the Campus Center.

The Courtyard Café has undergone a transformation during the summer months, with bright green paint and vinyl decals added to the pillars, as well as an updated sign and refinished counter space.

Steve Kjellgren, director of Dining Services, said planning for the redecorating began last year with the partnership with Tiny Footprint Coffee and the environmental efforts of students as inspiration. The project was funded by the class of 1974 in commemoration of their 40 class anniversary.

“We thought that [the Courtyard Cafe] could use a little freshening up, and we also had a story to tell with Tiny Footprint. I’m just so happy that we were able to put images of our students in action,” Kjellgren said.

Tiny Footprint Coffee has been served at Gustavus for the last four or five years, according to Kjellgren.  The company website details the steps taken to reforestation of Ecuador’s Mindo Cloud Forest in conjunction with each pound of coffee sold.

The company strives to produce a carbon negative product, which means that efforts are taken to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than was produced in the process of preparing and distributing the coffee.

“We’re buying really good tasting coffee. It’s fair trade, shade grown, it’s all the right things, but there’s also this story. We didn’t want to turn it into the Tiny Footprint Café. We still wanted it to be the Courtyard Café, and then to tell the story because we’re pretty proud of that,” Kjellgren said of the vision for the new space.

Anna Deike, Neely Prenzlow,  and Jenny Kurth of the Marketing Department joined in developing a space which incorporated both Tiny Footprint Coffee and the efforts of Gustavus students.

“It’s a fun place to work and study and meet people. The space is used in so many different ways across campus, not only the students but faculty and staff, and it’s a great area to come and meet, so hopefully people will be excited that it’s new and updated and fun,” Kurth said.

Perhaps the most notable changes are the photograph collages of Gustavus students on the 2011 January Interim trip, “Natural History of Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands” which now adorn a wall and several tabletops. Led by Professor Joel Carlin, the students worked to plant trees in the Mindo Cloud Forest, supporting Tiny Footprint Coffee’s mission.

“The local and the global [environment] are intimately connected.  Whether or not you ever go to the Tropics, a lot of the products you buy, the clothing you wear, everything you do impacts the Tropics, and workers’ conditions, environmental damage, political stability impact your life here, whether you acknowledge that or not,” Carlin said.

A storyboard reflecting the environmental mission of Tiny Footprint Coffee may be added to the space in the future, and the new seating ordered by Student Senate is expected to arrive soon.

Kjellgren noted that any remaining funding will likely be directed toward purchasing new furniture for the Johns Family Courtyard area.

“The space is used in so many different ways across campus, not only the students but faculty and staff, and it’s just a great area to come and meet.”—Jenny Kurth

“Hopefully it’s a nice reminder that even though you’re sitting in the Courtyard Café in a small college, in a small town, in a mostly rural farming state in the US, you are intimately connected with the rest of the world,” Carlin said.

–Libby Larson