Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 76.32
Liaison Karen Oberer
Submission Date Dec. 11, 2020

STARS v2.2

McGill University
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.62 / 4.00 Karen Oberer
Sustainability Officer
McGill Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Number of students enrolled for credit:
37,745

Total number of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
37,745

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

Name of the student educators program (1st program):
Ecole Project

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

ECOLE brings together McGill students, faculty and staff and Montreal community members in the pursuit of sustainable living. They conduct applied student research, provide alternative education programming, and believe in experiential learning. Most of all, ECOLE is an ongoing experiment that strives to be a model of urban sustainable living.
The peer-to-peer component is embedded in the structure of the program: one coordinator (a hired student) oversees the program while 10 facilitators (student volunteers) work together to develop projects, activities, and sustainable-living habits. The Facilitators "live sustainably, both materially and socially, by incorporating living practices including composting, reducing energy and water use, and using consensus-based decision making and anti-oppressive practices. Facilitators apply sustainable living approaches that are brought to their attention by their fellow students."

For more information about coordinator and facilitator roles, see: https://www.ecoleproject.com/recruitment


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

Students living at Ecole plus students attending outreach activities.


Number of trained student educators (1st program):
11

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (1st program):
33

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (1st program):
16

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (1st program):
4,500

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (1st program):
Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
Sustainability Projects Fund Ambassador Program

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

The Sustainability Projects Fund (SPF) Ambassadors program is a network of volunteers that promote and champion the SPF throughout McGill through various outreach activities. The overarching goal of the program is to increase visibility and awareness of the SPF and build capacity among McGill students to become effective sustainability advocates in their own right. SPF ambassadors have the opportunity to: build experience in community outreach, communications, and volunteer coordination; organize their own events to raise awareness of the SPF and promote existing projects; coordinate with SPF project teams and SPF staff to come up with new and innovative ways to reach out to the McGill community; and build relationships and network with various student groups and administrative units at McGill.

While the current ambassadors program focuses on the SPF, McGill Office of Sustainability (MOOS) is planning on expanding the program next year so that the ambassadors will be involved in wider promotion of MOOS events and initiatives; organization of educational activities; and participation in outreach events.


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

The ambassador program targets the entire McGill community, including faculty members, staff, and students.


Number of trained student educators (2nd program):
8

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (2nd program):
25

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (2nd program):
3

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (2nd program):
600

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

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

Every September, McGill’s Food and Dining Services hire and train 30 students to help first year residence students get accustomed to the dining halls’ Ecostation waste system. Waste educators guide students towards developing the correct sorting habits, which has greatly improved the quality of our compost and recycling. In other words, there are fewer errors as to which type of waste goes in what bin (e.g., a non-contaminated compost bin is only filled with organic or compostable waste).


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

This program targets students living in residence and students who use dining halls.


Number of trained student educators (3rd program):
30

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):
7

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (3rd program):
840

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:

Environmental Residence Council (ERC):
ERC is comprised of student representatives from each residence hall who promote environmentally friendly attitudes and habits throughout the entire residence community.

Elected positions for the ERC are open in September, studens in these positions are expected to fulfill regular responsibilities on the Council. The ERC also has volunteer positions (floor/house reps and committees) that allows students to participate depending on their interests and personal schedules.

The ERC and Residence Life facilitators (also students) organize outreach activities such as the annual Fight the Power inter-residence energy- and waste-reduction competition. Fight the Power is a month-long environmental competition where residences can earn points by showing that they can live sustainably. Points are awarded in 5 categories: Conservation; Events; Engagement; Proposal (a sustainability initiative that applies to all residences); and Awareness. The event is an opportunity for like-minded student groups to meet and collaborate with each other. Fight the Power is a peer-to-peer program in which students learn to be better environmentalists.

Food Educators:
Food Educators help connect people to their food and recognize what good food is, SHHS hires six student food educators to engage students at SHHS events including Local Food Days, Fair Trade Week, and Meatless Mondays. They work 5 hours per month for 8 months (240 hours total).
https://mcgill.ca/foodservices/sustainability/education-and-outreach

Waste Educator Squad
The Waste Educator Squad’s mission is to communicate with students, faculty, and staff to inform them of McGill’s waste initiatives and answer questions about waste sorting on campus. Waste educators engaged with over 6,000 McGill community members across the downtown campus by: (1) making short presentations in classes across various faculties (2) tabling in a different building each week and (3) social media outreach. The program is part of the Buildings & Ground’s Rethink React: Waste at McGill strategy.

Peer Support Centre (PSC)
PSC was founded in Fall 2013 by a group of McGill students with the support of McGill’s professional mental health services. With a vision to make support services more accessible at McGill, they conducted research and talked to similar programs elsewhere in Canada. After a semester of hard work, the PSC opened its doors in Winter 2014. Since then, the PSC has expanded considerably, by becoming a SSMU service, partnering with McGill Mental Health Services and securing a permanent location.


Number of trained student educators (all other programs):
26

Number of weeks, on average, the student educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
28.25

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per student educator (all other programs) :
9.33

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (all other programs):
5,701.50

Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators (all programs):
11,641.50

Hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators per student served by a peer-to-peer program:
0.31

Website URL where information about the student sustainability educators programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

We are reporting that 100% of our students are served by student educators programs because the mandate of the Sustainability Project Fund Ambassadors program is to perform outreach to the entire McGill population.

Further data for Ecole program listed above:
Ecole coordinator:
1 coordinator x 33 weeks per year x 20 hours per week = 660 hours
Ecole facilitators:
10 facilitators x 32 weeks per year x 12 hours per week = 3,840 hours

Calculations for Additional Peer-to-Peer programs:
Environmental Residence Council:
11 representatives x 32 weeks per year x 2.5 hours per week = 880 hours

Food Educators:
6 educators x 32 weeks per year x 2.5 hours per week = 480 hours

Waste Educator Squad:
8 educators + 1 coordinator = 9 x 16 weeks per year x 2.816 hours (avg.)/week = 405.5 hours

Peer Support Centre:
10 executive members x 32 weeks per year x 5 hrs/week = 1,600 hours
5 program evaluation team members x 32 weeks per year x 5 hrs/week = 800 hours
6 promotion & outreach members x 32 weeks per year x 3 hrs/week = 576 hours
60 active listening volunteers x 32 weeks per year x 1 hr/week = 960 hours
Total = 3,936 hours


We are reporting that 100% of our students are served by student educators programs because the mandate of the Sustainability Project Fund Ambassadors program is to perform outreach to the entire McGill population.

Further data for Ecole program listed above:
Ecole coordinator:
1 coordinator x 33 weeks per year x 20 hours per week = 660 hours
Ecole facilitators:
10 facilitators x 32 weeks per year x 12 hours per week = 3,840 hours

Calculations for Additional Peer-to-Peer programs:
Environmental Residence Council:
11 representatives x 32 weeks per year x 2.5 hours per week = 880 hours

Food Educators:
6 educators x 32 weeks per year x 2.5 hours per week = 480 hours

Waste Educator Squad:
8 educators + 1 coordinator = 9 x 16 weeks per year x 2.816 hours (avg.)/week = 405.5 hours

Peer Support Centre:
10 executive members x 32 weeks per year x 5 hrs/week = 1,600 hours
5 program evaluation team members x 32 weeks per year x 5 hrs/week = 800 hours
6 promotion & outreach members x 32 weeks per year x 3 hrs/week = 576 hours
60 active listening volunteers x 32 weeks per year x 1 hr/week = 960 hours
Total = 3,936 hours

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.