Humber College
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Learning by Leading™ at the Humber Arboretum provides experiential and service learning opportunities for Humber College and University of Guelph-Humber students. As part of the program, Humber Arboretum staff act as mentors to students who take the lead on real-world projects aimed at connecting other students with the Arboretum, creating a healthier environment, and promoting a more sustainable world.

Learning by Leading™ incorporates skills and mindsets from the Humber Learning Outcomes framework. The opportunities use a laddered approach to gradually build up students' knowledge and skills. All students start at the learn level, in the one-semester Ambassador-in-Training program. Students may then participate in real-world projects, and eventually lead other students coming into the program.

All Learning by Leading™ participants have the opportunity to:

- Gain real-world experience while having a real-world impact on issues related to the environment, biodiversity, and sustainability
- Develop leadership, communication, and other professional and critical thinking skills
- Embrace a place-based education by connecting with nature and learning about local ecosystems
- Expand their network of peers
- Build experience for their resume
- Have their experience recognized on their Co-Curricular Record, a second transcript that demonstrates their service learning

Learning by Leading™ is separated into three different branches, which are;

- Humber Arboretum Ambassadors in Training (HAAT)
- Humber Arboretum Ambassadors (HAA)
- Sustainable Horticulture and Environmental Stewardship

Humber Arboretum Ambassador in Training

This one-semester experience serves as an introduction to the Humber Arboretum and local ecology, and is the required first step for Learning by Leading TM. As a group you will take part in weekly sessions and discussions to build your knowledge, and as an individual you will participate in a few small exercises to help build your skills.

Humber Arboretum Ambassador

Launched in the 2018 Winter semester as the first pilot project under Learning by Leading™ at the Humber Arboretum, the Arb Ambassadors program has already connected students from a wide variety of academic fields with the vast urban greenspace on their campus. Under the guidance of senior students (the Co-Coordinators) and Arboretum staff, Ambassadors plan activities and create communication pieces to share their knowledge and enthusiasm about the Arboretum and natural ecosystems with the on-campus and local community. This can include in-person or online events or creative projects.

Sustainable Horticulture and Environmental Stewardship

Two students from the 2019 Student Gardeners summer team were selected to spend the fall and winter helping to develop the research project focused on the invasive species Dog Strangling Vine and is focused on finding the most effective manual control method for this plant species. Covid-19 put this research project on hold until this summer, we have two students working alongside the Humber Arboretums Environmental Stewardship Specialist on this research project. These students are also being trained on the removal of other invasive species including garlic mustard, phragmites, and European buckthorn and help to control the spread of invasive species from our garden area into our natural areas in particular our forest which is designated as an Environmentally Significant Area (ESA) within the City of Toronto.

The program is targeted to all attendees of the Arboretum, especially Humber students who take part in Arboretum workshops hosted by students in the Learning by Leading Program. The Humber Arboretum provided nature based experiential learning for 380 Humber students in 2020-2021.

Resident Assistants (RA) are trained student leaders who are responsible for a floor within the residence. RAs provide a supportive mentor-like role within their communities while working to ensure residents feel safe and secure in their new homes.

All 38 Humber Resident Assistants and 3 Residence Community Assistants took part in a training about the reusable container program introduced to their respective campus. Student staff from the North Campus learned key aspects of the O2GO program while student staff from the Lakeshore Campus learned about the Friendlier program. These student leaders serve the entire residence population are now equipped to address general questions from residents about the reusable container programs and encourage participation through role modeling.

Other training provided included: Residence Life Staff Orientation, Pre-Service Online Training Modules, Residence Life Staff August Training, Monthly In-Service Training, Winter Residence Life Staff Training, Attend any other training sessions or workshops as required by the Residence Life Coordinator, All mandatory Humber College training modules and programs (e.g. AODA, Health and Safety, Pathways to Human Rights)

The target audience for RAs are Humber's 1371 residence students at both campuses. Students are served by RAs through weekly meetings and ongoing targeted programming that leverage the Residence Healthy Living Framework where sustainability is integrated in programming.

The Office of Sustainability runs the Sustainability Ambassador program, which recruits student volunteers from Humber and Guelph-Humber.

At the start of the school year, the Sustainability Ambassadors volunteer group comes together for an introductory meeting with the Sustainability Communications & Engagement Coordinator. They get to know one another as they chat about the role, expectations, and sustainability topics of interest. The Sustainability Ambassador Workbook, text-based guiding material, is also available for volunteers to consult. The Coordinator maintains constant communication with the group throughout the school year and provides support on an 1:1 basis when needed.

Sustainability Ambassadors are trained on various topics that are key to expanding sustainability on campus including but not limited to; waste management and diversion of materials from landfill, the social and ecological impact of Fair Trade products, and how food service and waste on campus impacts sustainability.

Sustainability Ambassadors play a crucial role in educating the Humber community and beyond about sustainability. Students who sign up as a Sustainability Ambassador will:
- Maintain close contact with the Office of Sustainability
- Learn from and connect with sustainability professionals on and off-campus
- Receive recognition on Humber’s Co-Curricular Record (CCR)
- Integrated sustainable actions in their own life

Sustainability Ambassadors are expected to:
- Contribute a minimum of two blog posts on a sustainability-related topic of your choice.
- Attend a minimum of three sustainability-related events (these do not need to be hosted by the Office of Sustainability).
- Plan a minimum of one sustainability-related event for Humber’s annual Earth Month (March) with assistance from the Sustainability Communications & Events Coordinator.

The target audience is generally attendees at large campus events (students and staff for events with 100+ attendees). Since this program is relatively new, Waste Warriors have helped so far at two events:
Showcase 2018- mostly faculty and some staff (400 attendees)
Lakeshore Orientation 2019- all the students at Humber Lakeshore- Birmingham who attend orientation week. (2369 participants)

Total number of hours worked annually from the student educators program by the Learning by Leading program was generated using a different method that other student educators program. The following information below is our rationale:

Number of Trained Student educators:
Arboretum Ambassadors = 60
Arboretum Ambassador Co-Coordinators = 8
Environmental Stewards = 2
TOTAL= 70

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually:
Arboretum Ambassadors+ Arboretum Co-coordinators = Fall and Winter Semester (8 weeks/semester)= in total it is 16 weeks / per year
Environmental Stewards = Summer semester (May to Sept) – Environmental Stewards = 16 weeks
TOTAL= 32 weeks

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator:

Below represent the average hours worked weekly by each student within the educator categories (Co-Coordinators, Arboretum Ambassadors and Enviornmental Stewards):
- 12 hours = Ambassador Co-Coordinators
- 3 hours = Arboretum Ambassadors
- 35 hours/week during Summer semester = Environmental Stewards

The average number of hours worked per trained student educator, across all three of these programs together is 2.47
70 students x 32 weeks/year x A = 5536
A=2.47 hours worked weekly per trained student educator, in one year

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators:
60 Arb Ambassadors x 16weeks/year x 3 hours= 2880 hours/ year for ALL Arb Ambassadors
8 Arb Ambassador Co-Coordinators x 16weeks/year x 12 hours = 1536 hours/year for ALL Arb Ambassador Coordinator
2 Environmental Stewards x 16 weeks/year x 35 hours = 1120 hours/year for ALL Environmental Stewards

2880 + 1536 +1120 = 5536 hours/year for all student educators in the Learning by Leading Program