Bowdoin College
ER-3: Sustainability in New Student Orientation

A variety of strategies are used during orientation to encourage new students to be active on campus and set a tone of a campus wide commitment to sustainability. During orientation residential life proctors for each first year floor and Eco-Reps hand out CFL bulbs to raise awareness of Bowdoin's carbon neutrality commitment for 2020. Each of the 8 first year dorms has an Eco-Rep who meets with the first years during orientation to raise awareness about campus sustainability practices and forms dorm Eco-Action Committees. The Eco-Reps hold recycling demonstrations and games to promote Bowdoin's Single Stream recycling in the Student Union and in the largest dining hall. There is a local food themed dinner that features food from Bowdoin's Organic Garden. The Coordinator for a Sustainable Bowdoin tables about Bowdoin's Carbon Neutrality Plan and other sustainability related initiatives on campus as part of an informational fair during orientation. Before new students arrive for orientation they have the option of going on one of many pre-orientation trips. Several of these trips are focused around hands-on work addressing local sustainability issues in near by towns and on an island off the coast of Maine.