Santa Clara University
EN-3: Student Life

- The GREEN (Grass Roots Environmental Efforts Now) Club is the University's environmental club which seeks to promote sustainability to the campus community through focused projects, events such as Earth Week, and community action. Some of the projects GREEN Club leads include Oceans to promote marine conservation and divestment. - Santa Clara Community Action Program (SCCAP) is a community-based, volunteer service organization dedicated to applying education to social service. SCCAP promotes social awareness, leadership for social justice, and compassion. SCCAP promotes the holistic education of the volunteer by serving the surrounding community and by reflecting upon social justice issues, with the intent of challenging the participants to commit to creating a more humane and just world. Within SCAAP is Bronco Leaders for Environmental Justice Investigating Truth (B LEJIT) which is focused on promoting environmental justice on campus, in the local community, and on a national and global scale. - Santa Clara University undergraduates designed and built a fully functional, net-zero, tiny solar house on wheels for the October 2016 Tiny House Competition in Sacramento, California that mirrored the U.S. Dept. of Energy's Solar Decathlon and was spearheaded by SMUD’s Energy & Technology Center and Community Solar® program. SCU's rEvolve House team was named the champion of the inaugural Tiny House Competition in Sacramento. - Engineers Without Borders partners with developing communities worldwide in order to improve quality of life through the implementation of environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects, while developing internationally responsible engineering students. - Global Medical Brigades pools medical resources and professionals together with the purpose of helping patients in need and delivering medical supplies. SCU GMB establishes daily clinics in-country, for at least one week out of every year. SCU GMB has worked hard to provide medical resources to small villages in Panama, Ghana, and Nicaragua. - The Food Recovery Network (FRN) aims to fight food waste and hunger by recovering surplus food from on-campus dining venues and catered events. This surplus food is then donated to a local non-profit food distribution center. The organization also seeks to promote greater consciousness of the injustices of food waste among the student body at Santa Clara University. - Sustainable Business Club is an organization for students to engage their peers about the triple bottom line of sustainability, learn about corporate social responsibility, and to network with sustainable companies and organizations. This club aims to familiarize Santa Clara students with the role sustainability plays in a real-life corporate setting and provides opportunities for students to network and build relationships with business leaders in the Silicon Valley who recognize sustainability as a key component of 21st Century business careers. - The Freedom Project raises awareness about the cycle and social and emotional implications of slavery and trafficking and engages the SCU community to develop sustainable solutions through our curriculum and our community. - Oxfam America is a global organization working to right the wrongs of poverty, hunger, and injustice. The Oxfam America Club at SCU aims to raise awareness about Oxfam and the GROW campaign on campus and to inspire the community to strive for change. - Public Health Science Club facilitates the acquainting of public health majors and other scientific fields that may pursue careers in the medical field other than medical school itself. The club provides guidance and advice regarding public health courses and the public health major as a whole. - Society for Women Engineers: increases awareness, support for, and community strength of the female engineers on campus and mentors high schoolers interested in pursuing engineering. - Hero Projects: a service club that spreads the word about the opportunity to have a life-changing experience by participating on a 2-week trip that combines outdoor recreation and meaningful, sustainable volunteer projects in places in need, and to raise funding for prospective students participating in these experiences. - UNICEF at SCU strives to help children across the world by raising awareness about global issues and contributing ways to provide for key basic needs and emergency relief; thus, saving lives, in order for them to achieve their full potential. - Santa Clara University’s Net Impact chapter aims to equip and foster a community of socially responsible undergraduate students. The goal of SCU's Net Impact chapter is to dispel the belief that creating social & environmental impact and gaining revenue are mutually exclusive, and to provide the resources and connections to empower a new generation to drive social and environmental change. - Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP) partners with schools and organization to meet the needs of the Community. It is a group for all students on campus interested in the arts and education. Students trained in the ASTEP method will populate arts-based outreach projects on campus and off campus. Two such projects include a weekly trip to Sacred Heart Community Services Homework Club to teach performing arts games and running a dance/movement program for Kindergarten and 1st grade. The ASTEP method is built upon the pillars of Communication, Collaboration, Adaptability, and Trustworthiness. All organizations included here are student-governed.

The Forge is SCU’s half-acre organic garden where the campus and neighborhood community can volunteer, learn about sustainable agriculture, and participate in community events. The Forge Garden currently has six chickens, four beehives, a 400-square foot greenhouse, a compost center, over 20 fruit trees, over 15,000-square feet of garden beds, a public commons, an aquaponic system, and the 2007 Solar Decathlon House used as an office. The Forge hosts a weekly farmstand and volunteer hours, among other events, where students, faculty, staff, and the community can visit, conduct research, use the space as an outdoor classroom, and benefit from the garden vegetables and local honey. The Forge Garden hosts an Urban Garden Practicum course offered to students, in addition to various workshops offered throughout the year.

The Campus Sustainability Investment Fund (CSIF) is an internal fund that provides financing to implement student, faculty, and staff-initiated campus-based projects that move the University to its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving Climate Neutrality by 2020. Selected projects generate emissions reductions and cost savings in one or more of the following areas: electricity or natural gas use, transportation emissions (student/employee commuting, SCU-sponsored travel), landfill waste, water use, and consumption. The CSIF is an educational tool to provide hands-on learning and involve our campus community in driving positive change at SCU. Past projects include implementing LED lighting on the basketball courts in the recreation center, motion sensor and ambient lighting sensors in two on-campus buildings, and a solar water heater in one of the residence halls.

Sustainability-related events and speaker series are often hosted by the Environmental Studies & Sciences department, Food and Agribusiness Institute, Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education, the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, and various other campus organizations and departments. Annual events include: - Earth Week, which features week-long educational events, speakers, and Earth Day Fair; - Campus Sustainability Day in October is sponsored by the Center for Sustainability, and includes a fair, student panels, workshops, and more.

The Eco-Fashion and Art Show (an annual event started in 2010) is a night to celebrate art by seeing eco-fashion on the runway, gallery exhibits, and music, all showcasing the talents of Santa Clara students. Student designers and artists are asked to reuse old or recyclable materials that would normally end up in the landfill to creatively design a piece of art. The artists in this exhibition take that tradition one step further—they look not only to discarded materials, but to detritus. Engaging a Zero Waste philosophy, the participants rescue objects from the waste stream—items disposed of as trash rather than recycled by local residents and businesses—and re-imagine them in a new context to create original, enticing, and thought-provoking works of art. Through their work, the artists shed creative light on our role as active participants in the management of earth's limited resources. The Show also encourages durability and wearability of the eco-fashion pieces. Attendees of the event are educated not only on the environmental impacts of the fashion industry, but also the social implications of purchasing new clothes from fast-fashion companies every season.

Into the Wild is a chartered student organization committed to the Leave No Trace principles that joins together students with a shared interest and/or passion for the outdoors and outdoor activities, such as hiking, backpacking, and camping, among other activities. Into the Wild provides students with opportunities to get off campus and explore California’s wilderness. Every week there are organized trips for all skill levels that include hiking, backpacking, snow camping, rock climbing, kayaking, rafting, surfing, skiing, and more. Into the Wild aims to promote healthy, sober fun while encouraging education in environmentally sustainable practices. Into the Wild is a student-governed program.

The Center for Sustainability has developed a Sustainability Liaison Network that engages sustainability enthusiasts across the campus to further develop a culture of sustainability at SCU and to learn, share, and educate peers about sustainable life skills. LOCALS (Living Off Campus and Living Sustainably) encourages students living off-campus to engage their housemates and neighbors in sustainable behaviors in order to develop a culture of sustainability among students at SCU. SCOOPS (Students Collaborating and Organizing Opportunities and Projects for Sustainability) empowers Santa Clara University students in leadership positions to implement the University's Strategic Plan by fostering justice and sustainability programs among student organizations. Student employees also have the option to join the student employee liaison group called SEEDS (Student Employees Engaging in Discussions of Sustainability) to learn how to incorporate sustainable practices at work and at home. Lastly, the Residence Life Sustainability Liaison program empowers Santa Clara University Community Facilitators (CFs) and Neighborhood Representatives (NRs) to educate on-campus residents about sustainable lifestyle habits and promote events related to sustainability happening on campus.

The Center for Sustainability offers 13 paid internship positions for students. Students are selected based on their professionalism, proof of leadership abilities, and passion to learn more about sustainability. Each Intern has a different focus area: Student Engagement, Employee Engagement, Residence Life, Communications, Food and Dining, Waste Diversion, Zero Waste Engagement, Buildings & Grounds, Academic Programs, Curriculum Development, and three interns that work at the Forge Garden. Students also have the option to join the student employee liaison called SEEDS (Student Employees Engaging in Discussions of Sustainability) to learn how to incorporate sustainable practices at work and at home.

Seniors pledge to consider the social and environmental consequences of their careers. By taking the Graduation Pledge, they define for themselves what it means to be socially and environmentally responsible. There is no obligation to turn down jobs; the graduation pledge is simply a way to ensure that one's job represents more than a paycheck.

Santa Clara University has eight Residential Learning Communities (RLCs), each with a specific theme and programming which focuses on certain core values. CyPhi's theme is rooted in sustainability and the arts. CyPhi also has a floor called SLURP, which stands for the Sustainable Living Undergraduate Research Project. SLURP is dedicated to student research about sustainable living on the Santa Clara University campus. The Center for Sustainability organizes a number of annual events for the campus community. These events help students, faculty, and staff learn more about sustainability, and how to get involved on campus. Bronco Urban Gardens (BUG), an environmental justice initiative, is a partnership between Santa Clara University's Center for Sustainability and the Silicon Valley HealthCorps. The goal of the program is to increase community food security, sustainability, and environmental literacy in Santa Clara County through the co-creation and technical support of urban gardens and garden education programs.