| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 79.39 |
| Liaison | Yolanda Cieters |
| Submission Date | March 5, 2021 |
Seattle University
EN-1: Student Educators Program
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.38 / 4.00 |
Yolanda
Cieters Associate Director CEJS |
Number of students enrolled for credit:
Total number of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
Name of the student educators program (1st program):
A brief description of the student educators program (1st program):
ROLE OF SUSTAINABILITY REPRESENTATIVES:
The position of Sustainability Representatives (previously called EcoReps) was created in 2018. Sustainability Representatives fulfill the important role of educating Seattle University’s on-campus residents of sustainable behaviors while communicating the ideas and concerns of the residents they represent with Residence Hall Association and the University’s Administration.
The main responsibilities of Sustainability Representatives are to:
• Serve as a member of the Residential Hall Assembly and create legislation based on sustainability-related areas such as recycling, water, energy, purchasing, and food
• Educate students on environmental issues and sustainable habits and communicate campus sustainability highlights within the different residence halls
• Plan events in respective residence halls
• Encourage collaboration with RAs to promote sustainability through outreach and community involvement
• Serve as a member on the President’s Committee for Sustainability (PCS) to support the advancement of sustainability in the University’s planning and operations
• Serve as a liaison between the Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability (CEJS) and RHA.
TRAINING OF SUSTAINABILITY REPRESENTATIVES:
Sustainability Representatives are trained by:
1--Advisors from the Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability (beginning of academic year)
2--Residence Hall Association (beginning of academic year)
3--Sustainability mentors: these are students who served as sustainability reps in previous years and support new sustainability reps transition into the role. Sustainability Mentors are required to meet with their Sustainability
Representatives once per quarter, ideally within the first three weeks.
EXAMPLES OF PEER-TO-PEER EDUCATION AND OUTREACH BY SUSTAINABILITY REPRESENTATIVES:
o Example 1: One of the programs a sustainability rep initiated was a succulent program: The Residence Hall Association purchased several succulents and containers and they were able to have an event where residents came together, learned how to properly take care of plants, and decorated pots.
o Example 2: Sustainability Representatives and Sustainability Mentors wrote a Green Dorm proposal with green living checklist for student residents. The guidelines were meant to be used for a competition between residents to encourage students to adapt their practices to include sustainable habits, such as composting, doing laundry with the cold water setting, growing produce and supporting community gardens, and volunteering when possible. While this was not possible to implement during COVID-19, the green dorm program proposal can be used by future Sustainability Representatives since all of the connections with community partners and the format has been established.
o Example 3: In April, Earth Month, 2019, sustainability reps placed boxes, beautifully decorated as small tress, around residence halls. Student residents were asked to put their “Sustainability idea” in the box responding to the following two question: “How might SU be more sustainable?” and “How might you support SUstainability?”
A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (1st program):
Target audience: student residents.
Sustainability Representatives fulfill the important role of educating Seattle University’s on-campus residents of sustainable behaviors while communicating the ideas and concerns of the residents they represent with Residence Hall Association and the University’s Administration.
Number of trained student educators (1st program):
Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (1st program):
Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (1st program):
Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (1st program):
Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (1st program):
Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
A brief description of the student educators program (2nd program):
ROLE:
The Edible Campus Initiative (ECI) is a student-driven coalition that uses the lens of urban agriculture to promote food justice, community wellbeing, and environmental stewardship through four primary programs: the ECI Internship Program, the Food For All Stewardship Program, the Pea Patch Plotters, and the Food with Spirit student club. In collaboration with Grounds and Landscaping and CEJS, these programs seek to nourish the body with nutrient-rich, organic produce, the mind with educational resources, and the soul through a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere.
TRAINING:
ECI student interns are trained by Grounds staff to the goals and objectives they establish and are relevant to Edible Campus and benefits the Grounds Department.
EXAMPLES OF PEER-TO-PEER EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
--Communications/social media publishing and announcing urban agricultural activities on campus and adjacent to campus. Community building and coordinating with campus students, staff and faculty highlighting urban agriculture as a focal point.
--In the campus greenhouse: growing vegetable starts from seed; transplanting vegetable starts to the campus pea patch
--Offering opportunities to students to learn from each other pea patch gardening and harvesting
--Accessing partners for mentoring such as Tilth Alliance - Garden Hotline
--Partnership with Albers Business School: class project developed ECI business plan in coordination with ECI intern.
A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (2nd program):
TARGET AUDIENCE:
All campus students have access to education outreach about growing vegetable starts and learning about pea patch growing on campus via the following events:
tabling events; announcements and activities. Target audience = enrollment #'s for AY19-20.
Number of trained student educators (2nd program):
Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (2nd program):
Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (2nd program):
Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (2nd program):
Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (2nd program):
Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
A brief description of the student educators program (3rd program):
ROLE:
The Zero Waste student leaders educate and do outreach to other students on campus about zero waste in an effort to minimize SU’s waste, increase waste diversion, and support SU in its goal to become zero waste by 2025.
TRAINING:
Students received Beyond Waste Leadership certificates through PLAN’s training program, with supplemental resources from PLAN and other sustainable waste management sources.
EXAMPLES OF PEER-TO-PEER EDUCATION AND OUTREACH:
--Students offered waste diversion training through “trash talking” events at waste bins in the dining facility
--Outreach during Recyclemania events such as trivia night and Community Recycling Day
--Outreach about zero waste methods and resources from the Post-Landfill Action Network via Instagram
--Prepared zero waste how-to one-pagers for COVID & post-COVID times
--Created photo galleries online for our campus waste streams.
A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (3rd program):
The Zero Waste student leadership program seeks to “target” all students and make material accessible to them.
Outreach happens via trash talking, Race to Zero Waste (formerly Recyclemania) events, and prepared outreach-focused projects (e.g. social media campaign; photo gallery, Zero waste hand-outs).
Number of trained student educators (3rd program):
Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (3rd program):
Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (3rd program):
Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (3rd program):
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:
Number of trained student educators (all other programs):
Number of weeks, on average, the student educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per student educator (all other programs) :
Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (all other programs):
Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators (all programs):
Hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators per student served by a peer-to-peer program:
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:
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.