On a warm, sunny day, multiple students can be seen on campus taking pictures next to abundant white, red, and light pink Royal azaleas in full bloom on top of the Ewha Campus Complex (ECC). Some take a nap under the shades of the towering Sawleaf zelkova between Ewha-POSCO Building and Jinseonmi-gwan. Others chat privately about their exam results, sitting on a bench surrounded with various shades of green and abundant trees.
“My favorite landscape on campus is the rooftop of ECC because of all the flowers planted there,” commented Sophie Chae, a student majoring in Philosophy.
The delightful vista of the campus is so amazing that people might think of its original purpose is aesthetics. However, the first thing considered when deciding what to plant is function along with its beauty.
“Nature can cover ugly parts of buildings or block sunrays,” stated Ku Chil-Hoei, the campus landscape architect. “Architectural, meteorological, and aesthetic functions are all considered. Nature can be something that people admire when they pass by, but it can serve a practical purpose too.”
The cluster of wooden benches made in front of Helen Hall is an example of work done last year by the landscape team. They cleared dangerous tress, planted Madenhair Trees, and set up benches to provide a place for students to rest. Even during the interview, numerous students filled the seats and sat comfortably under the shade.
“People usually take nature for granted as something that ought to be there, but its absence will surely be noticed if students went to class in the middle of an empty field,” Ku added.
Other than providing a space to rest, nature plays a comforting role for students.
“I believe that nature on campus has an immense impact by offering stability and comfort to students amidst the stress they face from a class work and preparation for employment,” Ku replied.
Students agreed that nature plays a positive role on university campus.
“I feel that it is necessary to have nature in a studious environment,” agreed Oh Ye-ji, a student majoring in Social Welfare. “Even if I feel depressed, seeing all the green refreshes and calms me.”
There is another person on campus who is deeply interested in Ewha’s nature. Chang Yoon-jae, who is in charge of Life Chapel, worked together with the landscape architect team to hang nametags indicating the type of trees from Welch-Ryang Auditorium to Pfeiffer Hall.
“I hope that students will befriend trees by getting to know them by name and develop sensibility toward nature,” Chang explained. “In the future, I hope that all trees on campus will have the nametags which are hand-carved by our design students. Even after years pass by and their professors and friends pass away, their tree friends will remain on campus.”
Chang leads campus tours with an ecological focus in mind. Whoever wants to take a tour can directly contact Office of the Chaplain to arrange one. Among the nature on campus, he recommends students to take time to visit the trail of trees’ nametags to develop personal relationships with the trees. 
“Ewha students must highly intelligent as well as deeply spiritual of having insight to different perspectives and being able to see the universe in a blade of grass,” Chang emphasized. “This will assist students in developing holistic mindsets, the kind that leaders of the next generation must have. Students do not have to go far. Nature is right next to us in the garden of Ewha.”

저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지