Delta College
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Students in Pollution Prevention conduct a prevention audit on campus facilities or with a local business/industry. As part of the HVAC and other related classes, students tour and study the campus chilled water plant, living wall, controls systems, and rainwater harvest process.

Residential Construction students renovated a former campus sailing school into a sustainable structure with energy-efficient processes and building materials. Students in Architectural AutoCAD used the software weather tools to determine best solar orientation for building sites and performed a right-to-light massing study to determine the impact on nearby buildings. In a long-running partnership with Habitat for Humanity, residential construction students completed on an energy efficient, fully accessible residence in a local county. The home was turned over to a fellow student with special mobility needs. Alternative Energy Trailer, team approach construction project involving residential construction, electrical, HVAC, and welding programs, produced a mobile learning lab for sustainable concepts, energy efficiencies, and building materials. Found materials from other campus projects were integrated into the design and construction.

Students in Career in Energy course selected an engineering discipline of interest with a particular job function. They contact a local person/company/faculty in their selected field for an interview. Residential Construction students renovated a former campus sailing school into a sustainable structure with energy-efficient processes and building materials. Students in Architectural AutoCAD used the software weather tools to determine best solar orientation for building sites and performed a right-to-light massing study to determine the impact on nearby buildings. In a long-running partnership with Habitat for Humanity, residential construction students completed on an energy efficient, fully accessible residence in a local county. The home was turned over to a fellow student with special mobility needs. Alternative Energy Trailer, team approach construction project involving residential construction, electrical, HVAC, and welding programs, produced a mobile learning lab for sustainable concepts, energy efficiencies, and building materials. Found materials from other campus projects were integrated into the design and construction.

As part of the Growing Power project, students performed six days of volunteer service in urban agriculture to bring new skills and knowledge to inspire our campus dining and local communities to build sustainable food systems. Students deliver and track the quantity of pre-consumer food waste to delivery to a neighboring campus greenhouse vermiculture program. Students assisted with the collection of data to calculate the carbon footprint of food and dining.

Students have prepared proposals, papers, projects, and research on campus grounds compost programs, lighting applications, stormwater management analysis, water quality, and landscaping.

Students have involved the purchasing process as it relates to purchasing and procurement of sustainable products for writing and research assignments.

General and Inorganic Chemistry students used vegetable oil and biodiesel to determine the het of consumption as renewable energy fuels. Students conduct surveys on alternative transportation available to campus commuters, assist with data gathering for with the greenhouse gas inventory transportation/travel categories, and conduct tabling events. Their experience has been applied to their course work and/or independent study.

Students emptied and tracked refundable bottle return collections to help evaluate their elimination from landfilling. Students deliver and track the quantity of pre-consumer food waste to delivery to a neighboring campus greenhouse vermiculture program.

Students tracked water refill stations to evaluate the reduction of bottled water drinks. Rainwater harvesting system which hydrates the campus living wall are both water subject areas for research and writing projects as assigned by composition courses.

Student prepare research studies on the college campus facilities and/or a local organization that has incorporated sustainable development into their business model with the objective to discover the sustainable strategies and how the organization carries them forward.

Students worked with faculty to prepare posters on varied sustainability subjects such as water quality, social injustice, climate change/resilience, and food deserts for display during Earth Day events. Oral communication students dedicated community volunteer service and paid it forward with mini-grants to local non-profit agencies that help youth-at-risk. The course was aimed at seeding social change through volunteerism. Students participated in Clean the World by packaging and distributing hygiene products discarded by the hospitality industry. The packages were donated and distributed to impoverished persons. Delta’s Closet, a student-run enterprise started by a business management/marketing class, operates as an ongoing campus retail store, where students may shop for free apparel for such events as scholarship and job interviews and the first days on their new job. https://sites.delta.edu/collegeinfo/CounselingAdvising/Deltas%20Closet/Delta's%20Closet.aspx The Student Food Pantry, which originated from a Learning Communities class project, is now a successful student-run enterprise. Students were instrumental in the project development including brochure artwork, creation of the intake form and tracking databases, drafting policy and procedure, and designing the pantry. They are responsible for conducting student intakes, managing donations, developing nutritional recipes, researching legal issues, and incorporating sustainable standards. https://sites.delta.edu/collegeinfo/CampusResources/FoodPantry/SitePages/Home.aspx

Students research and write papers discussing the campus department or an outside organization’s incorporation of sustainable development into their business model. The objective is to discover the sustainability strategies and how the organization is lacking or succeeding. Students research the campus department or outside agency with a published CSR report and compose a paper related to the organization’s strengths and weaknesses.

As a two-semester course project, Graphic Design students created Green Book Vol. 1 and the companion exhibit materials for Off The Page both of which were community-participant projects and presented to the local community as a social venue. In a long-running partnership with Habitat for Humanity, residential construction students completed on an energy efficient, fully accessible residence in a local county. The home was turned over to a fellow student with special mobility needs. Oral communication students dedicated community volunteer service and paid it forward with mini-grants to local non-profit agencies that help youth-at-risk. The course was aimed at seeding social change through volunteerism. Students participated in Clean the World by packaging and distributing hygiene products discarded by the hospitality industry. The packages were donated and distributed to impoverished persons.

Health & Wellness students partnered with Food Services for sustainable dining and nutrition assignments and writing projects.

Art exhibits featuring social and environmental themes including ‘found material’ mixed media pieces. Free computer repair for students offered by Computer Technology Club.