Appalachian State University
EN-3: Student Life

As of Fall 2017, there are over 40 student organizations involved in the Student Sustainability Council. The Student Sustainability Council supports all sustainability-driven clubs and organizations on our campus. The goal of this council is to support and create a unified, sustainable, Appalachian State community where at least one representative from each organization sits on a council that meets bi-weekly. The Student Sustainability Council plans to continue making connections with administration and collaborating with all members of the Appalachian Community to create a more sustainable campus. ASUSES is the Appalachian State University chapter of the American Solar Energy Society. The American Solar Energy Society (ASES) is one of the largest non-profits in the country that helps promote renewable energy technologies through national conferences, magazines, and research. ASUSES hosts workshops, special events, and other educational programs on campus and in the community to inform folks of the importance of renewable energy and sustainable living to our environment and future generations. Their purpose is to educate, enlighten, and inform students and the community about solar and other renewable energy applications, green building, and other aspects of sustainable living. The club is made up of ASU students and faculty who volunteer their time to learn and spread the word about sustainable energy. Net Impact Appalachian strives to tap into the skills and abilities of students to promote social and environmental sustainability in the Boone community and the world. By applying business as a tool for innovation and change, members should have the opportunity to create measurable impact in Boone and throughout their careers. Net Impact is an organization intended for students who have a sustainability oriented mindset and are interested in sustainability applications through business. These are only descriptions of two of the major sustainability-focused student groups on campus. A more comprehensive list can be found at the link below.

The Sustainable Development Department's garden and greenhouse is located on campus beside the Living Learning Center (LLC) and is a teaching facility for sustainable agriculture and food systems, where students can work outdoors and learn together. Vegetables are raised year-round, and students harvest excess crops by the end of the semester for donation to the ASU Food Bank. The garden has a compost education center to teach how to compost organic waste and food scraps, including slow and hot composting, tumblers, worm bins, etc. The garden participates in the university zero waste program and students in the LLC dorm compost their food scraps in the garden compost bunker. Worker bees provide pollination and honey in the garden, and we aim to use sustainable technologies such as a solar drier to dry tomatoes. Students also express themselves through art in the garden, and the Tommy Walsh Memorial learning circle on the lawn is a common gathering place. SD teaches agroecology courses in the garden, which focus on bio-intensive vegetable production for urban agriculture, concepts which can also be applied in commercial farming. The Appalachian State University Gardening Club helps manage and maintain the garden—several beds are reserved year-round for student club use. Students in the Watauga College learning community also have reserved beds. The SD Garden is a key partnership for community-based food production and building a local food system.

Created as part of the 2015 Peacock Hall re-modernization project, the Beans 2 Brew (B2B) coffee shop features a multi-purpose counter and kitchen space that, in 2015, enabled the students to sell more than 18,000 cups of coffee to students, faculty and community members. B2B offers entrepreneurial student education, all while maintaining its reputation as an excellent cup-of-joe supplier for customers. B2B operates as a rolling two-week fundraiser, involving all academic clubs in the college. Each club performs its unique function in operating the coffee shop (American Marketing Association, Economics Club, Supply Chain Management Club, etc.) and receives a distribution of profits. The coffee shop includes sustainability as part of its mission, and many of its products are compostable, including coffee grounds and cups. The shop gives all of its compost to the Sustainable Development garden on campus.

The Sustainable Energy Speaker Series was created to deepen campus and community understanding of contemporary energy issues and spur conversation, reflection and collaboration around energy topics. The series is a joint effort of the Appalachian Energy Center and the Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment. Our aim with this series is to give students, faculty, staff, and the community a chance to learn, engage, connect, collaborate, and gain new perspectives on energy issues.

The Appalachian Sustainability Film Series is held every semester with films focusing on issues relating to sustainability. The Department of Geology, Belk Library, Appalachian Popular Programming Society (APPS), and the Office of Sustainability sponsor the series.The spring Sustainability Film Series is designed to raise awareness of current environmental issues and help provide solutions. Each film will be followed by a panel discussion with local activists, community leaders, academics and students who will answer questions and discuss ways of personally getting involved on local, national and international levels. The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts is holding a Trash to Treasure series from September 2017 through November 2017. These "Trash Art Mondays" will offer students the opportunity to create art by reusing ordinary materials that they encounter on a daily basis. Students will interact with everyday items to create attractive and maybe even useful craft items; the possibilities are endless. Materials will include plastic water bottles, trash bags, cardboard scraps, wood scraps, and fun creative supplies. We will have sample projects to spark ideas or students can free-style their work and create something completely unique. The classes are free to Appalachian Students. The Turchin Center also hosted an exhibition (free to the public) entitled "Collective Vigilance: Speaking for the New River". Partnering with the Center for Appalachian Studies, Tom Hansell’s graduate seminar, Sustainability and the Arts in Appalachia (AS5065), and New River Conservancy (NRC) to showcase the headwaters of the New River in the northwestern corner of North Carolina, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts supports both the mission of the NRC and Appalachian State University’s commitment to an engaged campus culture inspired by the ideal of sustainable communities. The New River Conservancy believes that clean water, healthy land and empowered people benefit the surrounding communities by creating a watershed where people want to live, work and play. On April 4, 2017, the Schaefer Center presented The Nile Project. On the surface, the Nile Project blends traditional musical idioms into one seamless Nile sound. But look a little further and you’ll begin to see a 35-member musicians Collective modeling contemporary organizational concepts such as systems thinking, network theory, and participatory leadership. The Nile Project is pioneering a new approach to transform transboundary water conflicts by using music to ignite cross-cultural empathy and spark environmental curiosity. And its collaborative model offers a blueprint for new ways in which Nile citizens can organize themselves to strengthen the sustainability of their river. In an evolving series of interlocking programs that spring from the concert experience, the project works to inspire, educate and empower Nile citizens to collaborate on developing innovative solutions to the challenges at the root of their water conflict. These are only a few recent examples of the many sustainability-related events, installations, and performances that Appalachian hosts.

Outdoor Programs' mission is "to promote discovery through student-powered adventure," and its core values include diversity, adventure, education, and development. Outdoor Programs strives to minimize their environmental impact by practicing "Leave No Trace" environmental ethics, preserving green spaces, minimizing waste, incorporating service, planting trees, purchasing carbon credits where appropriate and emphasizing reduce-reuse-and-recycle practices. Regular programs for students include skill-based clinics, challenge course team-building activities, rock climbing, paddling and hiking, as well as overnight, weekend and semester break programs.

First Year Seminar (UCO 1200), a required course for all incoming students with less than 30 hours of credit, introduces first year Appalachian students (freshmen and transfers) to rigorous academic study at the University level through interdisciplinary engagement with a variety of disciplines and perspectives. First Year Seminar students and faculty engage in a shared process of inquiry around a broad, interdisciplinary topic or question. A large number of FYS courses discuss issues related to sustainability. Fall 2017 offered 11 sustainability-focused First Year Seminar courses, including Contemporary Green Living: Life Choices for Sustainability, Back to the Land: 21st Century Homesteading, Land Conservation in the North Carolina Mountains, and more. The complete list of course offerings can be found at the URL below.

The Eco-Reps Program is a new initiative of the Office of Sustainability that makes a representative from each residence hall the sustainability liaison to their peers. These eco-reps positions are positions on hall council as well. This is a competitive volunteer program that, as of Spring 2017, has an associated academic course, UCO 2530-2549. This course will allow students to develop their leadership and peer-to- peer education skills, while integrating campus sustainability into the residence halls. This course is dedicated to the eco-reps program. The course allows students to creatively engage the university community in sustainability education and outreach. Students will represent one of 20 residence halls on campus and will serve as the liaison between the Office of Sustainability and University Housing. Students are will have the opportunity to collaborate with residence hall staff to develop and implement sustainability education activities for their peer students. Students will be introduced to the concepts of sustainable living and examine both the cultural and personal values that support, and inhibit, successful sustainability behavior. These students will work to investigate, evaluate, communicate, and reflect on the multifaceted challenges associated with wellness, food, water, energy, transportation, consumption, waste, and social justice. In addition, they will explore the historical cultural traditions of the Appalachian region as an important element of sustainable communities. This knowledge will be applied and further developed through outreach and engagement of sustainability in the campus residence halls.

The Office of Sustainability routinely offers Graduate Assistantships in which students are directly involved a variety of operations and programs run by the office. Some responsibilities of assistantships include: helping to run and organize outreach campaigns, completing surveys and reports regarding sustainable practices affiliated with the university, communicating and organizing awareness events, providing technical support for renewable energies projects on campus, and increasing collaboration between the Office of Sustainability and other departments of the university. The Office of Sustainability also employs student interns who serve as peer educators to the student body, bringing the concept of sustainability to their community. These interns assist in green events efforts, and doing outreach that connects with other students via tabling and special events.

The Appalachian State Graduation Pledge is a voluntary commitment by our graduating students as part of the Graduation Pledge Alliance headquartered at Bentley College. It reads as follows, "I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences, and the civic and community responsibilities, of any job or career I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organizations for which I work."

Food Pantry & Free Store: Any students or Appalachian family members who have food or goods needs are invited to visit Appalachian’s food pantry. Located in the Office of Sustainability, the food pantry offers non-perishable staples as well as seasonal, local fruits and vegetables, as available. Need clothes, basic hygiene items, home goods, or school supplies? Or do you have these items to donate? Visit the free store, located in the same space as the food pantry. This resource exists so that members of the Appalachian community can exchange clothing and goods as needed, including casual wear, dressier items, and apparel for job or internship interviews. Social Justice Collaborative: The Social Justice Collaborative promotes and celebrates teaching, scholarship, creative activity, and professional and community service related to social justice and human rights. We enact Appalachian State University's commitment to help create healthy, just and sustainable societies, and advance UNC's mission to contribute to the solution of societal problems and enrich the quality of life in the state, region, and world. The objectives of the Social Justice Collaborative are to: *Establish an organizational structure for social justice and human rights on campus that will elevate and communicate the significance of social justice and human rights issues through education, scholarship and creativity, and outreach. *Serve as a hub and a conduit for bringing faculty, students, staff and the community together for exploration, education, discussion, research, and collaboration on issues of social justice and human rights. *Encourage and promote scholarship and creative activities from cross-disciplinary perspectives on social justice and human rights issues. *Prepare students to incorporate social justice and human rights in their professional and personal lives. *Provide opportunities for partnering with community agencies to give a stronger voice to the work they do on social justice issues and, where possible, to assist them in that work. Campus Farmers Market: The Campus Farmer's Market is sponsored by Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, and is student organized and operated through the Sustainable Development Student Alliance. The market features a variety of local farmers, artisans and students and includes an array of different produce and products grown and crafted right in Boone's backyard. The market is hosted a few times per semester. Students can volunteer for the event or simply show up to support local vendors. Carbon Neutral Commuter (See EN5)