On Friday, Feb. 7, the Pitzer College Student Garden hosted its annual Citrus Fest. In a lively collaboration between the garden and the Grove House, students were invited to immerse themselves in the fragrant atmosphere. Students enjoyed an afternoon filled with various citrus treats, hands-on crafts and a guided tour of the student gardens.
The event provided an opportunity for the campus community to connect with nature, savor fresh flavors and celebrate the harvest season’s bounties.
Hannah Price PZ ’25 shared her excitement for the event as she crafted a candle adorned with leaves and pieces of gold paper.
“I think it’s really nice that these types of community events exist and to be able to see friends and also eat food and listen to music and relax,” Price said. “It’s very nice to just be with people that I care about.”
The event was moved indoors due to rain, leading students to pack inside the Grove House and spill onto the sheltered outdoor deck. They rotated through a variety of activities, including creating orange garlands, printmaking, painting rocks, stirring up orange-scented candles and sugar scrubs, in addition to enjoying desserts like orange cheesecakes and lemon cookies.
Stella Seid PZ ’26 expressed her excitement upon unexpectedly discovering the celebration.
“I stumbled upon this drawn in by the music and the sight of delicious treats,” she said. “All the events at the Grove House are the best and this is super cute, getting to see what’s come of all of the abundance of citrus that we have growing on campus.”
Another student, Alyssa Hernandez SC ’27, said that she had seen the garden’s Instagram posts and thought it would be a great opportunity to explore the neighboring campus,
“I saw it through their social media and I was really excited to come because I’m an art major and I like to make a bunch of crafts,” she said. “I don’t come to Pitzer very often, so it’s exciting to be able to meet new people and see different faces.”
Claire Wang PZ ’27 and Stryder Rodenberg PZ ’25, both staff of the garden and Citrus Fest organizers, shed light on the various uses of the Pitzer Student Garden and its importance to students.
Wang emphasized Citrus Fest’s significance for the wider campus community, noting how it provides a sense of familiarity that students can always rely on upon their return.
“I think it’s a really good way to just bring everyone together because it’s usually at the start of the spring semester,” she said. “Everyone’s coming back from a break and having citrus is always like a nice reminder that you’re in Southern California.”
Rodenberg highlighted how the event offers a valuable opportunity for students, particularly those in environmental analysis (EA), a popular major at Pitzer, to connect classroom learning with real-world experience,
“We have a lot of EA students, so it provides a chance to sort of apply learning from class and experiment hands-on with the localized food system … from growing to producing to prepping, it gives students a chance to really engage in all levels of the food system in a localized way, which is really cool when you think about sustainability,” he said.
He also noted the garden’s role in fostering sustainability and community engagement, especially through events like Citrus Fest.
“It’s really exciting because at the garden we’re really interested in connecting people to people and people to places through organic sustainable produce,” Rodenberg said. “We have a chance to experiment with the localized food system.”
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