California State University, Monterey Bay
EN-1: Student Educators Program

A team of 4 student assistants was hired by the sustainability office. The team conducted various outreach and educational events in order to each the student population on campus. The events included: Kahoot game nights on sustainability-driven topics, recruiting for the Waste Watcher program, student-led gatherings on relevant environmental topics, movie showings of environmental issues, Campus Sustainability Plan participatory input at large scale campus events, and collaborations with student organizations with an environmental component.

Students are hired through a formal hiring process and via recommendations. Students must have some desire for environmental and or sustainability work. Applicants will interview with current student assistants and then the Sustainability Director.

Students have weekly team meetings to discuss team projects along with individual work plans. Students are not limited to only their work plans but are welcome to assist other students in projects.

Students are paid by an hourly wage and supported by the Sustainability Director. Campus partners like Greenwate and Aviands have sustainability driven goals.

This community focuses on the intersection of Social Justice, Environmental Awareness, and Innovation. Students in this community learn through daily interactions with RAs and planned RA programming. Some examples of programs are: Sustain-BEE-lity (beeswax food wraps):Students learned that there are many cool ways to be sustainable, and that sustainability is achievable through very creative ways while they made their own bees wax and cloth food wrapping to eliminate plastic wrap. Hmong New Year: Students learned about the Hmong culture by participating in the activities, eating the food, seeing the clothing and more! Residents were really engaging and asked many questions to develop a sense of understanding about the culture and traditions. Blank Canvas: Who Are You?: They learned a little bit more about themselves and self discover/ share some things to their fellow peers. This goes back to social justice and discovering about yourself and what makes you unique! Sanderling Recipes: They will learn how to cook and will have a tool in the kitchen such as this book for them to use if they ever wanted to learn how to cook. A lot of residents have been using the kitchen lately and wanting to cook more, with this book, I'm sure it'll catch their eye! Climb Aboard, Get Ready to Explore:Students went to local farmers markets and learned about the local farmers and produce in the area. Pumpkin Painting - Movie Night: The residents learned the sourcing of pumpkins for Halloween and how we could use pumpkins in a number of ways. We had discussions about our favorite pumpkin products.

The RAs (residential advisors) are selected during the RA selection process and are students who either specifically express interest in Sustainability Peer Education or work with sustainability/social justice offices on campus. All LLP RAs go through RA Training and LLP Training where they learn the foundations of their position and how to create experiences based around sustainability education. We also strive to connect with and bringing in campus partners to further enrich the experience of the students in Project Leading Change.

All LLP RAs go through RA Training and LLP Training where they learn the foundations of their position and how to create experiences based around sustainability education. We also strive to connect with and bringing in campus partners to further enrich the experience of the students in Project Leading Change. Throughout the Semester, RAs have check in meeting with the Senior Coordinator of Residential Academic Initiatives to make sure they are focused on Sustainability and to continue training and education.

This program is supported through CSUMB's Student Housing and Residential Life offices. All funding and support -financial and staff- is provided by the university.

The Environmental Affairs Committee (EAC) is a committee with Associated Students of CSUMB that advocates for sustainable development within the CSUMB campus by educating students to be more environmentally friendly. The EAC strives to do this by programming events through outreach, getting students involved in the community, and working with campus departments and organizations to ensure that sustainable initiatives are met. Some examples of outreach activities are movie & discussion nights, clothing swaps, a sustainability trivia night, bike safety workshops, waste diversion workshops, spring cleaning swap, Trashion show, tabling, and more. The committee also reaches out to relevant university leaders to ensure sustainability is being practiced on campus.

The Environmental Affairs Committee is led by the AS Sustainability Senator (an elected position in student government) and members of the committee are selected through a hiring process. The process includes an application as well as a cover letter. After applications are reviewed applicants are required to do an interview with the Sustainability Senator. The Environmental Affairs Committee Internship is open to any student at CSUMB, however the program targets and is most beneficial to first-year students.

At the beginning of the program student educators are required to attend a social/training in order to meet each other, learn about Associated Students, and brainstorm goals. During working groups, members receive training sessions on topics such as public speaking skills, email etiquette, and recruitment/outreach.

In FY17 the committee received $7000 in funding from Associated Students to use for outreach, programming, and other purchases. Due to misuse in previous years as well as budget cuts the committee's budget for FY18 was only $300. For FY19 the committee received $5000 due to the success of the Sustainability Senator in FY18 as well as advocacy within AS during budget discussion for FY19.