George Washington University
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Eco-Reps help with events such as Earth Hour, Eco-Challenge and Earth Month throughout the year, just to name a few. Eco-Reps are a part of the student-run Campaign GW, an ongoing forum for students to directly share their ideas with the administration and participate in the decision-making process on future GW campus development issues, including sustainability. Eco-Reps target their outreach to the number of students served (above), which are all students living on campus in the residence halls. GW Eco-Reps are the driving force behind Eco-Challenge, hosting small and large events in their residence halls and across campus designed to educate their peers about water and electricity reduction. During Eco-Challenge, Eco-Reps participate in several trainings where they learned how to perform energy audits of buildings. Many of them share what they learn with their residence halls. Eco-Reps regularly staff tables at events and host trainings to help inform their peers about the importance of sustainability and provide updates regarding the university’s sustainability advances. They provide sustainability updates through a newsletter, which is distributed to a listserv of about 22,000 members of the GW community (primarily current students).

Student peer educators volunteer to serve as Eco-Reps.

Eco-Reps receive many types of training throughout the year. Through monthly meetings students learn about sustainability initiatives on campus, share best practices with each other, and discuss outreach events.

The Eco-Rep program is coordinated by one full-time staff member as part of her other duties, and three part-time student interns who help to recruit students, facilitate their activities and provide education and training. Financial support is provided for use in outreach events and trainings.

Planet Forward is a platform for students who employ storytelling as a way to engage with sustainability. Launched in 2009 and based at the GW Center for Innovative Media, Planet Forward supports students and faculty as well as others across the country and the world. Planet Forward hosts outreach, training, and convenings for students at 18 Consortium colleges and universities, including GW, on an annual basis. Their accredited course, Annual Summit, and salons engage, train, and amplify the voices and stories of more than 200 student storytellers. These student storytellers aim to reach their peers on each of their campuses, as well as followers beyond the colleges. Content for Planet Forward is sourced from student educators at GW, as well as student contributors from other campuses. In addition to regular contributions, Planet Forward hosts 16 college student Correspondents across the nation, including GW, whoregularly contribute stories of sustainability to the Planet Forward website. The stories generated from Planet Forward Correspondents broaden the reach for sustainability programs in their local communities and college campuses. On the GW campus specifically, Sustainability 101 (the university-wide undergraduate course on sustainability) students and students minoring in sustainability are encouraged to create short videos of their research, internship or campus activities involving issues of sustainability, and this past year 60 GW students contributed content to the Planet Forward website. The program uplifts student storytellers target and targets all of GW's students with their message and stories about sustainability on campus and beyond. The sustainability stories generated from GW Planet Forward Correspondents reach approximately 500 GW students per year.

Graduate assistants for Planet Forward are in the School of Media and Public Affairs and receive full scholarships and stipends for their work. They are selected on a competitive basis. Planet Forward also works in partnership with universities across the nation, forming a Consortium of 18 universities. As part of the collaboration, staff members conduct Skype workshops with students in classrooms across the country, providing instruction and feedback on storytelling techniques. Students are also selected based on recommendations from faculty members who work in partnership with Planet Forward through its campus Consortium. For submission of videos and uploading other content to Planet Forward's website, student contributors pitch stories to Planet Forward staff and work with a small team of editors to optimize content.

Student educators are provided a general tool kit that helps them understand the art of storytelling, its importance in agenda setting and advocacy, and best practices in media arts. The Planet Forward team also conducts classroom visits and Skype calls to train students the art and science of storytelling technique. In addition, Planet Forward staff members and student editorial interns coach contributors through the storytelling process, providing insight suggestions for story arc improvement. Embedded in the delivery of storytelling techniques is the prism of innovation, compelling characters, the mastery of communication platforms, all with the objective of elevating solution-based dialogue and ideas.

Graduate assistants for Planet Forward are in the School of Media and Public Affairs and receive full scholarships and stipends for their work. Planet Forward has three full-time staff members, one part-time graduate research assistant, and 1-2 part-time student workers. Planet Forward is funded through corporate, foundation, and individual contributions and commitments. Housed in the Center for Innovative Media at the GW School of Media and Public Affairs, Planet Forward's program overhead is also contributed by the University through financial support and the use of facilities.

The Sustainable Student Leaders (SSL) program is designed to connect student leaders from a variety of green organizations at GW. SSL is targeted to students in green organizations, but also to any GW student interested in sustainability to create a sense of community for "green-minded" individuals at GW.Through the SSL listserv, student leaders send and receive emails to one another about upcoming sustainability-related events and volunteer opportunities. In addition, monthly meetings are held to provide another opportunity to receive updates on sustainability initiatives on campus. The primary purpose of the SSL meetings is to allow the student leaders to get to know one another and to join forces on upcoming projects that have similar themes and objectives. The meetings also serve as a platform for group discussions and a means to address any questions or concerns. The number of students served by this program (above) include both the student leaders of the organizations that attend each year, as well as the students who participate in those student groups, who receive a report out on the meetings from the student leaders.

Sustainable Student Leaders are selected based on the role they play in their green organization. Those who are on the executive board or play a very active part in their organization are encouraged to be a part of the program. The Office of Sustainability reaches out to new sustainable student organizations to encourage their participation in the group. Meetings are open to anyone who participates in green organizations.

Sustainable Student Leaders are provided with materials they request to better educate themselves and their peers about topics that are of their organizations’ interest. They are also given brief informational presentations on topics such as GW’s ecosystem enhancement strategies and proper recycling practices. There are 3-4 meetings per semester, and at each meeting an interactive presentation is given, with information for students to disseminate through their respective groups.

A staff member from the Office of Sustainability maintains the listserv and sends out frequent updates about upcoming sustainability-related events. This staff member also leads the monthly Student Sustainability Leader meetings and facilitates peer-to-peer discussions. Per student leaders’ request, the Office of Sustainability staff publicizes green organizations’ events and aids in providing student leaders with the resources they need to successfully carry out their events. Materials and other minor costs associated with this group are contributed by the Office of Sustainability.

Internships are a great way for students to gain exposure to sustainability on campus and to build their resume experience in the field. The Office of Sustainability has had interns working in the office since it opened in 2009, bringing in students who have worked in a variety of capacities: • Interns have played key roles in event planning and research of sustainability issues and best practices; • Interns have assisted with student engagement activities, such as Eco-Rep coordination and managing our faculty/staff engagement efforts - the Green Office Network; • Summer interns have researched the feasibility of a green campus fund, designed and launched sustainable procurement policies for GW, and created a sustainable water use video to enhance student engagement on the issue; • Interns manage the outreach and coordination of the Green Office Network with offices across campus; • Interns have contributed significantly to the research, content, and development of GW’s Climate Action Plan, GWater Plan, and Ecosystems Enhancement Strategy– the three components of GW’s strategic plan for sustainability practice; • The student garden manager position helps manage and coordinate the work in on-campus garden; • Interns in conjunction with Eco-Reps take leadership roles in coordinating Green Move-Out providing assistance; • Interns assist with meter-reading and recycling efforts throughout the year. •Interns have assisted with compiling data for several sustainability reporting mechanisms, as well as a progress report. Students outside of the Office of Sustainability also work with the Zero Waste team and the Energy and Environmental Management team on their efforts throughout the university to improve water and environmental efficiency and recycling efforts, among other endeavors. The number of students served are the most recent year's total who are working in these offices.

Planet Forward is a GW-led platform that engages students across many colleges and universities in sustainability dialogues both here and abroad. Formally, Planet Forward has a consortium of 18 partner schools. Hundreds of GW students are engaged in sustainability-related internships on- and off-campus. Example of on-campus internship: One student designed and implemented a Sustainable Student Pledge in the Summer of 2017. Off campus example: A student interned in the White House Council on Environmental Quality https://www.planetforward.org/idea/engaging-the-public-the-obama-administration%E2%80%99s-environmental-record