Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 67.45
Liaison Benjamin Newton
Submission Date March 3, 2023

STARS v2.2

Central Community College
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.94 / 4.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Number of students enrolled for credit:
9,578

Total number of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
9,578

Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
100

Name of the student educators program (1st program):
Students-4-Sustainability

A brief description of the student educators program (1st program):

Students 4 Sustainability was and remains the first campus-wide club, offering students from each campus and center the opportunity to solidify and share their knowledge of environmental stewardship through action. Club members regularly attend educational webinars, volunteer, garden, and participate in sustainability events. Students involved in the club serve as peer mentors by sharing their expertise on matters related to local environmental initiatives.
In addition, club members are provided the direction, resources, and the support needed to create innovative projects, while educating their peers and community regarding their project’s significance. Specific examples of peer-to-peer education initiatives include the annual Dia de los Muertos partnership with FOCUS club, bi-annual highway cleanups, Valentine’s Day Sustainable Card Making, Festival of Trees creation, tree and pollinator garden plantings.


A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (1st program):

The target audience for S4S’s programming are current and prospective CCC students. Meetings are held monthly, and members often continue to be involved with the club during summer months.


Number of trained student educators (1st program):
14

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (1st program):
49

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (1st program):
10

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (1st program):
6,860

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (1st program):
Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
Nebraska State Fair

A brief description of the student educators program (2nd program):

The partnership between student educators, Students 4 Sustainability, and the Nebraska State Fair has continued to blossom over the past five years. Each year, the Nebraska State Fair allocates funding to assist students in project creation. The newly-minted projects are then displayed at the Sustainability Pavilion for the thousands of fair-goers each year. Students involved in these projects are welcome to choose from a myriad of sustainability related topics, ranging from solar energy systems to mycelium propagation.
Student educators are also enlisted to volunteer during the entirety of the fair, but encouraged to assist while Nebraska’s Largest Classroom is being held. This gives student educators the opportunity to reinforce their knowledge by sharing with other students. The focal point of the partnership is to further student enthusiasm in stewardship through the lens of science, technology, engineering, art, and math.


A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (2nd program):

The target audience for this program is the general public, K-12 students, and college-aged peers. 2nd Program: Nebraska State Fair, 26 weeks active
This number changed because peer educators are now working with students on these projects for between 26 - 33 weeks out of the year. Students begin working on projects as early as January, sharing prototypes at our Earth Day events. In some cases, students work on refining projects up until the week of the Nebraska State Fair. All participants are asked to volunteer and have their projects on exhibit the week of the State Fair. Peer educators and participants regularly share feedback and are aided up to and during the Nebraska State Fair.


Number of trained student educators (2nd program):
10

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (2nd program):
26

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (2nd program):
8

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (2nd program):
2,080

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (2nd program):
Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
Earth Month

A brief description of the student educators program (3rd program):

The Environmental Sustainability staff works to include each campus in Earth Month planning and activities annually. All 3 campuses (Hastings, Grand Island, and Columbus), as well as Kearney Center, hold separate events during the month of April. Each event is a coordinated effort to draw students towards sustainable action, no matter what their study area of interest. Each event includes visits from sustainability-focused organizations, activities, and students expositions.


A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (3rd program):

The target audience for this program is for current and prospective CCC students.


Number of trained student educators (3rd program):
8

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (3rd program):
4

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (3rd program):
8

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (3rd program):
256

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (3rd program):
A brief description of all other student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:

America Recycles Day is annually held at the Columbus campus to commemorate the United States’ commitment to recycling. Students are encouraged to learn more about recycling and reuse through activities and educational presentations. In 2021, event attendees participated in a timed, mock-robot building competition using items that would have otherwise been thrown away. In addition to the robot competition, student educators provided their peers with information designed to demystify the recycling process and challenge their assumptions about waste.

This program's length was extended to account for the coordination and planning required to carry out the event. Because it is student lead and directed, part of the peer-to-peer education includes not only the event itself, but it is also inclusive of the time it took to research, collect materials, activity creation, and associated administrative duties. These are all demonstrable hard skills we have identified that are integral to the execution of this ongoing program. It thoughtfully serves to allow students in obtaining peer guidance about sustainable event management and execution.


Number of trained student educators (all other programs):
4

Number of weeks, on average, the student educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
4

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per student educator (all other programs) :
6

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (all other programs):
96

Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators (all programs):
9,292

Hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators per student served by a peer-to-peer program:
0.97

Website URL where information about the student sustainability educators programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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