Florida Institute of Technology
EN-3: Student Life

SOSA - Student Organization for Sustainable Action works to bring best practices in sustainability to the Florida Tech campus and community. The organization has several teams working projects and events on- and off-campus, many tied to projects within the academic sustainability program.

Residence Life Sustainability Committee - Student group focused on creating a more sustainable Residence Life experience for students. This group was also instrumental in obtaining the university's Ethos Community Garden.

Community Garden Club: This organization operates the Ethos Community Garden and generates diverse harvests of food in the Residential Quad on campus. This work includes organizing volunteers and renters, maintaining garden production at full potential, and sustaining sponsor relationships. The club catalyzes student involvement in the garden and helps advance sustainability on campus and in the community.

Keuper Palm Botanical Society: To preserve, cultivate, and share the rich botanical heritage at Florida Tech while fostering a personal connection with the botanical garden. This will be achieved by actively restoring and maintaining the garden and its amenities, so that members of the campus and community may enjoy the garden and the activities hosted within. The Society also seeks to actively raise awareness of the garden’s history and biodiversity.

American Society of Civil Engineers: A professional organization focused on enhancing working and practical knowledge of engineering. Hands on projects and competitions coupled with networking opportunities provide an opportunity for all engineers to grow personally and professionally. This group has commonly worked closely with SOSA to achieve several sustainable goals around campus including the building of a panther statue out of 100% collected recyclable materials. In addition, they have also participated in Fall and Spring Earth week.

SOARS(Sustainability Outdoors Adventure Recreation Survival): We are an organization founded by Eagle Scouts who have instilled scouting principles into a Florida Tech outdoor organization. As an organization, we are focused on outdoor adventures including camping, hiking, snorkeling, fishing, backpacking, sustainability, conservation, and wilderness survival. Throughout our adventures, we aspire to not only have a great time but to also further one another's love for the outdoors, enhance each other's knowledge, and to help each grow as people.

Marine Biological Society: This society was created to assemble an involved group of marine enthusiasts on campus and work for a marine biology program at Florida Tech that is stimulating, engaging and meaningful.

US Green Building Council, FIT Student Chapter: The U.S. Green Building Council is committed to a sustainable, prosperous future through LEED, the leading program for green buildings and communities worldwide.

Florida Tech Student Government Association (SGA) - SGA acts as a liaison between the student body and the faculty, staff, and administration by presenting programs and activities that reflect the tenor of the student body's opinion. The association also manages the student government projects fund which helps fund different sustainability projects on campus.

Squamish - A social and service co-ed environmentally-minded group, with interests in activism, awareness, and social networking. Their main objective is to maintain, protect, and advocate for the botanical gardens at the school. In addition, Squamish regularly participates in jungle and beach clean-ups within the surrounding Melbourne community.

Alpha Phi Omega - A co-ed service organization that initiated recycling on campus, before our Facilities Operations Dept. enacted institution-wide recycling. The organization also participates in other activities from campus clean-ups to fundraising for rainwater collection barrels.


https://www.fit.edu/sustainability/campus-and-community-actions/student-organizations/

The university opened the Ethos Community Garden, Florida Tech's first on-campus community garden. Strategically located within the campus’s Residential Quad, the Ethos Community Garden aims to promote nutritional education, sustainable gardening, and relationship building within the campus and surrounding neighborhood. As a student-run community garden, on-campus students, faculty, and staff all share in the benefit as the garden becomes a hub for cross-collaborative learning while encouraging environmental sensitivities and sustainable behavioral change.

https://give.fit.edu/pages/give-pages/ethos-community-garden

In order to ensure the success and sustained existence of the community garden, there is a student-run club that oversees the management of the garden. The Ethos Community Graden club is responsible for meeting the needs of the garden and ensuring that it stays clean and healthy, which includes garden upkeep, budget management and addressing the potential problems (e.g. vandalism, weeds, angry neighbors, etc.). The members of the club also are responsible for community outreach, which includes running events and fundraisers for the garden and organizing the involvement of those who are interested. The club is the public face of the Ethos Community Garden and the behind the scenes management group that ensures the garden is operating efficiently and smoothly.

Florida Tech is close to getting a green fund approved through the student body and administration but it is currently not active

The Evans Library and Sustainability Program have hosted events on both climate change and the history of environmental literature during the spring semester with a primary focus on students. These events have been well attended and have panels with leading faculty, which also included students.

Florida Tech has twice partnered with the Brevard Cultural Alliance to put on an Art of Sustainability Family Fun Day in March of 2018 at the Palm Bay City Hall. Florida Tech professors were on a panel which discussed the role of the arts in sustainability action and policy. We have also worked with the Brevard cultural alliance on other initiatives.

The university also hosts an International Fest. The International Fest is an annual celebration of cultural diversity and international community held at the Florida Tech campus in Melbourne, Florida. International student groups and local cultural organizations host country and diversity-themed display booths showcasing a variety of traditional clothing, informational literature, maps, flags and artifacts. Dance and vocal groups, bands and other performers (including martial artists) fill the afternoon with live entertainment on Florida Tech's outdoor stage, the Panthereum, while local eateries sell a variety of delicious ethnic foods in the Panther Plaza courtyard.

Sustainability Outdoors Adventure Recreation Survival conducts events that specifically follow Leave No Trace principles. This organization is run by students who are Eagles scouts who are in the boy scouts of America, and explicitly adhere to these principles.

In 2019/2020 multiple student organizations collaborated to put on a fall-themed Earth Week with multiple. Most of the same organizations did the same thing in Spring 2019 and Spring 2020 in terms of a Spring-themed Earth Week. This includes broad advertising around campus and substantial planning throughout these semesters.

a. The Sustainability Coordinator offers six Federal Work-Study student employment positions each academic year to help assist on different campus sustainability initiatives, reporting, and data collection. Each student works on independent projects assigned by the Sustainability coordinator.

b. The Sustainability Academic program also offers two to four Federal Work-Study student employment positions each academic year to help assist with sustainability research, the university's sustainability website, and sustainability data collection

Florida Tech has had an on-campus sustainability pledge for the past four years which is aimed to engage students with the hope to help and improve Florida Tech’s sustainable actions. This program is similar to the graduation pledge but engages students with a sustainability pledge on campus.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdb2sLGzm84u7e2eS-cxRpawtorW7dGoTbNDXPKb5IlvwCFrg/viewform?c=0&w=1

All data sourced from the Academic Sustainability Office, the Office of Residence Life, the Office of Student Activities and the Office of Student Affairs.