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Student participation in floristics at the university level is essential for the longevity and expansion of botany, plant ecology, and their many associated fields, but knowledge and college course options have been decreasing. In many cases students are unaware of the botanical biodiversity that is right in front of their eyes. We started a project called Flora of Rutgers Campus (FoRC), which provides students with hands-on outdoor fieldwork as an engaging and effective way to experience botany first hand. In 2011, 32 students participated in this project and uploaded 580 vouchered observations to a database. In total, we found 98 families, 200 genera, and 259 species on the Cook/Douglass campus of Rutgers University in New Jersey. Nearly 10% of the states flora was found on 317 urban/ suburban acres. This project strongly increased the students' knowledge of local plants, opened their eyes to "see" plants everywhere, and encouraged students to work cooperatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]