California Polytechnic State University
EN-1: Student Educators Program

The Green Campus team works from a student led model with oversight from the Energy, Utilities, and Sustainability department in Facilities. Having the CSU policy goals to work from, the Green Campus team implements conservation projects, expands educational outreach and marketing, infuses sustainability into curriculum, and empower student leaders and clubs to be more impactful. Every year Green Campus team members are trained directly by Sustainability staff on strategies and tactics to engage their peers. Green Campus team members are responsible for targeting all students at the university to become sustainability experts. Green Campus conducts peer to peer outreach by hosting a variety of events ranging from film screenings, festivals and fairs, art installations, panels, and workshops. Team members are also responsible for conducting training for all incoming freshmen during all orientation events and tabling on a weekly basis. In the 2018/19 academic year, Green Campus employed 8 team members who each worked on average 10 hours per week for 30 week of the school year resulting in 2400 hours of peer to peer outreach planning and execution. https://afd.calpoly.edu/sustainability/student/green-campus

Green Campus team members are selected through a competitive application process managed by the Cal Poly Energy, Utilities, and Sustainability team. Green Campus Team member positions require a two year commitment from each student and are paid student assistant positions through the Facilities Management and Development department.

Green Campus team members are provided with an initial orientation training and ongoing programmatic training throughout the academic year.

The Green Campus program is funded through the Cal Poly Facilities Management and Development department and has an annual budget of $35,000 which provides stipends for up to six to eight team members and additional funding for materials and supply purchasing. This budget does not include the additional staff management and coordination time by the Energy, Utilities, and Sustainability supervisors.

Eco Reps are a group of students committed to creating a culture of environmental stewardship on campus at Cal Poly. Managed by the Green Campus Team within Facilities, Eco-Reps exemplify the "learn by doing" motto and play a direct role in Cal Poly's advancement to a fully sustainable future. Every year Eco Reps collect Green Living Certifications from students who live on and off campus. Through the Green Room and Green Office programs, Eco Reps provide sustainable consultations to students, staff, and faculty to educate and empower the Cal Poly community to live more consciously and in turn reducing Cal Polys energy, water, and waste. The goal of the Green Room Certifications is threefold: to serve as a mechanism to continue increasing sustainability awareness, to bring together already sustainable minded students, and to bring new students into the community. In the 2018/19 academic year, we trained 25 Eco Reps who each worked on average 5 hours per week for 30 week of the school year resulting in 3750 hours of peer to peer outreach planning and execution.

Eco Reps are required to fill out an application form demonstrating their interest and experience in peer to peer sustainability initiatives. To be an Eco Rep it is necessary to be committed to volunteering in education and outreach events, planning and implementing local community events in residence halls, and helping to make Cal Poly a more sustainable place through creation and implementation of campus-scale projects/events.

Eco Reps are expected to attend an initial training, a mandatory monthly trainings, scheduled meetings with smaller groups, and assist with move out at the end of the school year all meetings have training and professional development components.

Support for outreach materials are funded through the Green Campus and Energy, Utilities and Sustainability budget.

The role of student Zero Waste Ambassadors is educate event attendees about waste sorting and to ensure that event waste stream result in high waste diversion. In 2018/19, with nearly 150 volunteers, the program reached more than 14,200 attendees at 25 events over seven months and diverted over 3 tons of waste from the landfill. The 150 volunteers worked on average 3 hours, resulting in 450 volunteer peer to peer outreach hours.

The Zero Waste Ambassadors program manager recruits volunteers for zero waste events. Of the 125 volunteer shifts that were filled in 2018/19, 1/3 were filled solely by the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities (OSRR) sanctioned students who had to complete mandatory community service hours. Out of the 73 first-time volunteers, 51 of them returned to volunteer with Zero Waste Ambassadors again.

All volunteers received a zero waste training prior to their volunteer shift, thus educating them on proper recycling and composting practices on campus.

Over the 2018/19 school year this program was funded by the Energy, Utilities, and Sustainability department but there is currently a business plan awaiting approval that will shift the funding model to a cost recovery program paid for by event hosts across campus. Fund pay for a Zero Waste Ambassador manager and two student leads as well as outreach and event materials.