Northeastern University
EN-2: Student Orientation

The Office of Sustainability collaborates with multiple campus units/departments to enhance/broaden sustainability's inclusion into new student orientation, freshmen carnival, and the beginning of fall term. A robust, daily, online countdown provides incoming and returning students sustainability ideas and prompts to prepare for fall term; this aligns/dovetails with the student tabling information available during the freshmen orientation held during summer months. Additionally, the Orientation Office implemented multiple changes over the past decade to better highlight sustainable options into its operations, including paperless materials, the orientation day box lunch materials and food options, recycling bins at all freshmen orientation lunches, and support for students during orientation to use their own refillable water bottles during the orientation events; additionally, campus tours pre-and post orientation include buildings and operational campus sustainability highlights. The Office of Sustainability website is provided as a resource in student orientation materials, along with information about Trash2Treasure's annual fall event (which typically attracts over 1,000 attendees including freshmen, transfer students, undergraduate and graduate students, and is a great example of sustainability education and awareness being up front and center for students even before fall term begins). Freshmen Carnival, held the weekend before classes begin, extends the sustainability aspect to orientation by engaging students in activities that inform/educate about campus sustainability, and offers sustainable giveaways to all freshmen attending the event. The annual fall sustainability/bike/light fair event, held the second week of classes, mirrors the new student orientation and how it integrates sustainability: the event draws over 1,000 people; includes over 20 student group, university office, and other sustainability information/interactive tables; demonstrates examples of how the university integrates sustainability - into dining services, bike/transportation, and recycling). Fall 2020, new recycling signage was installed in every residential dorm trash room before move-in, along with new signage around campus and over 200 new, coordinated sets of recycling bins, to help educate the incoming community on recycling procedures and the university's waste minimization systems/processes. Sustainability Programming is robust throughout fall term as a carry-over from the new student orientation to ensure there's a cohesive, continued process by which students are educated and made aware of the university's sustainability program.

There are multiple flyers available to demonstrate examples of the online, daily sustainability move-in countdown tips; the annual Trash2Treasure event; the annual fall Sustainability/Bike/Light Fair; fall 2020 new recycling signage in all residential dorm trash rooms; the freshmen carnival sustainability focus; and the orientation office's efforts to increasingly include more sustainable options in its programming.