Agnes Scott College
EN-2: Co-Curricular Activities

Agnes Scott has several organizations that are sustainability focused, including Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity and Sustainability (SEEDS), Student Green Fee Fund (SGFF), People of Pollinators, and the Environmental Residents. 

• SEEDS is a campus chapter of the national organization, Ecological Society of America. The student organization promotes sustainability through ecological and nature based education and events with an emphasis on nurturing the interest of underrepresented students to participate and lead in the field of ecology.

• SGFF is a student organization in partnership with the Center for Sustainability and the Gué Pardue Hudson Center for Leadership, Engagement and Service. Through annual fees, each student pays $10/year towards the fund. Five student representatives manage the fund distribution and approve funding for student-led projects, programs, events, conferences, campaigns and seed research that advance climate action, justice and sustainability efforts on campus. 

•  People for Pollinators is a student organization established with the purpose of educating the campus and local community about pollinators, their importance, maintaining and caring for our on-campus bee hive, and preserving one of humanity’s most important symbiotic relationships. The organization maintains a relationship with the City of Decatur organization, “BeeCatur” and coordinates the campus’ Bee Campus USA application. 

• ERs is an organization dedicated to bringing more sustainable practices into the residence halls since 2008. Students are selected through an application process and assigned to a residence hall. These Environmental Residents are then in charge of educating and collecting hard to recycle materials, event organizing, information distribution and leadership through a passion project. 

https://www.agnesscott.edu/center-for-sustainability/get-involved.html 

Agnes Scott has several organizations that advance racial equity and social justice. One example is the Black Student Union at Agnes Scott College, known as Witkaze. The organization primarily assists in the guidance, orientation, and advocacy of all Black identifying students on campus regardless of level of their participation within the organization’s events or other initiatives. The organization focuses on academic excellence, social and political awareness, community service, creating cultural and racial equity, and overall inclusivity.

The goal of Witkaze is to uplift the Black community and provide a safe space for all African Diasporic students on campus. Witkaze looks  to create unique events that build community, bring awareness to the socio-political issues that the Black community on and off campus face, while also building community and further establishing a Black siblinghood.

The Center for Sustainability hosted a sustainability-focused event series in partnership with the Environmental & Sustainability Studies Minor in Spring 2024. The EcoFilm Festival was held over three Wednesday nights and had students, faculty, staff and community members in attendance. Three themes (Race & the Environment; Climate Change Driving Biodiversity Loss; and Conservation in Georgia) introduced attendees to a nightly theme through curated short films and a panel discussion with subject matter experts, film producers, and featured community organizers. Six undergraduate students were nominated to emcee and facilitate the panel discussion for each of the three nights. These students participated in planning conversations with the faculty and staff event organizers and community panelists, formulated questions, and encouraged their peers to attend. Another additional element included tracking event waste for the Campus Race for Zero Waste competition. The college received recognition as one of the winning institutions in the category of “Green Events for under 50 attendees”. 

Established in 2008, the Environmental Residents is a student leadership organization dedicated to bringing more sustainable practices into the residence halls. Students are selected through an application process and assigned to a residence hall. These Environmental Residents are then in charge of educating and collecting hard to recycle materials, event organizing, information distribution through peer-to-peer educational opportunities, and implementation of a passion project.

The Center for Sustainability has positions open to students through the college’s federal work study employment program. Three positions are open annually, and in the 2023-2024 academic year these positions were; Zero Waste Assistant, Garden & Student Engagement Assistant, and Student Green Fee Fund Project Coordinator. All of these positions were staffed and students completed learning objectives and meaningful campus projects, including supporting the community-led creation of a Zero Waste Strategic Plan, revitalization of the recently moved demonstration garden, and historical analysis of the impact of the SGFF projects. 

Agnes Scott’s Student Government Association (SGA) manages a textbook exchange program called the Textbook Drive. Donation boxes are placed strategically across campus towards the end of each semester. SGA representatives help collect the donated textbooks and co-locate them in the Library where they are sorted. Once sorted, they are 1) put on course reserve for limited check out by students throughout the year, 2) added to the Library collection as a semester-long check out, 3) added to the Center for Sustainability library and available for semester-long check-out, or 4) donated or given away at a Library book event.

https://www.agnesscott.edu/center-for-sustainability/waste-diversion.html 

Agnes Scott College annually hosts the Women’s Global Leadership Conference with a rotating theme. In 2021, the theme of the conference was “Building a Better World: Women and Climate Justice”. This conference engaged attendees in climate justice as women's rights and the importance of addressing climate injustice. The description of the conference stated, “Women frequently bear the brunt of the social violence, political instability, and environmental degradation caused by climate change but at the same time, they are also important change agents in the transition to a more sustainable and just future. With the “Building a Better World” conference Agnes Scott combines its strong commitment to sustainability and its innovative SUMMIT global learning and leadership experience to address the full range of climate-justice experiences of women and other marginalized identities.”

https://conferences.agnesscott.org/WGLC2021/ 

Based on our student-centric Earth Day Fair 2024 event, we know at least 350 students attended. This estimate is based on the number of local King of Pops popsicles we purchased for the event; since we ran out of popsicles and know there were additional students inquiring, we are confident in estimating 32.4% of our total student body attended that one afternoon event. This metric does not factor in the other ways individual students engage in other events and opportunities. 

The aforementioned Environmental Resident Program is meant to service the upperclass-students' residential halls on campus. The Environmental Residents provide services to all students that live in the residence hall by offering access to hard to recycle materials, events, information distribution, and speaking at a hall meeting every semester. All residents of campus are required to attend these hall meetings, thus every resident receives sustainability and recycling information through this program. In the 2023-2024 academic year 459 upperclass-students lived in campus housing. This makes our calculation of 44% of FTE students.

The Center for Sustainability also did extensive tabling at first-year student events for both class of 2026 and 2027 (the fall semester in years 2022 and 2023 respectively) to foster engagement and outreach with these students. These included the Student Resource Fair, the Welcome to Decatur Fair and the Student Organization Fair. All of this programming also includes transfer and international exchange students who are experiencing their first year on campus. The Center also joins the Environmental Residents in both of the two first-year residence halls and speaks to every incoming student and family about best recycling practices and resources on campus. Each year, the entire incoming student population is reached in sustainability programming by these several events allowing us to assume an approximate 30% of the population is reached each year with the count of these student groups together.

Through these calculations, we estimate a 74% participation rate. With intentional care to avoid double counting, the 30% of first-year students we reach during move-in and orientation is an important contact point on campus and adds onto to the aforementioned 44% of residential upperclass-students, leaving us with an estimated 74% of students participating in sustainability activities.