The students, led by School of Design Associate Professor , participated in two teams. They completed the design proposals as part of their coursework in Spring 2024. The awards were announced in late September.

Surina Archey ’27, Milena Andrade ’26 and Haley Meyer ’26 took the silver award in product and structural design for  a prescription for eco-anxiety. Arriving in eco-friendly packaging, the prescription provides resources for climate action and education in four capsules.

Offering a calendar of local, environmentally focused events, the action pill encourages community involvement. The giving pill spotlights an eco-organization and contribution opportunities.

The prescription also introduces users to sustainable companies through product discounts and samples in the sustainability pill. It provides a booklet with anti-anxiety practices and a newsletter containing positive climate news through its wellness pill.

Receiving highly commended recognition in , Qizhi Fang ’26, Valeria Chavez ’27, Peter Zejmis ’26 and Jiamin Chen ’26 confronted water accessibility issues. The students designed a water bottle that alerts people experiencing homelessness to the proximity of drinkable water. In partnership with Hydro Flask, the water bottle measures the distance to accessible, clean water sources by color change. The farther from a water source, the redder the bottle turns.

Award winners have their work displayed online and are invited to be a part of the Creative Conscience Community.

Joseph Maxwell Ossei-Little (left) and Ryan McQuay Meredith

Meredith’s composition, “Polluted Skies,” consists of two movements, “Clouds” and “Stars.” The piece mimics a cloudy sky that eventually opens into a starry night.

A massive mechanical instrument, the organ always fascinated trombonist Meredith. Housed in Crouse College’s Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium, a 3,823-pipe Holtkamp Organ is part of what attracted him to ���ϲ�����. “There’s a lot of magic tricks you can pull off on the organ,” says Meredith. “Specifically with our organ, there’s a lot of options where you can have one hand do an orchestra’s worth of what you want.”

The completed composition broadened organist Ossei-Little’s musicality, allowing him to play with unique rhythms and contribute his own voice to the growth of the organ community. “What really got me interested in the project is this whole idea that my professor has been championing about expanding the repertoire of the organ,” he says. A composer-organist pair themselves, Setnor Associate Professor Anne Laver and Assistant Professor Natalie Draper guided the students throughout the project.

The creation of new compositions can have a large impact on the evolution of the instrument, Ossei-Little notes. When large chords became commonplace in compositions, organ builders reacted, making it easier for players to meet the needs of the pieces.

Available on video via the AGO website this summer, “Polluted Skies” will highlight all the organ has to offer. Ossei-Little plans to premiere it at his scheduled for Saturday, April 13, at 5 p.m. in Setnor Auditorium. “It’s a very wonderful opportunity for us to showcase what the organ can do,” Ossei-Little says. “Not just what it used to do in the past but what it can do now.”