South Seattle College
EN-3: Student Life

Black Student Union
South Seattle Colleges Black Student Union (BSU) is an empowered student body group with a duty to serve and make a communal awareness of Black History and Culture. BSU also strives to create and bring positive social change, while providing a safe familial space for our members. We try to achieve our mission through BSU's forums, bi-weekly gatherings, and events.

Gender Sexuality Alliance
The Gender-Sexuality Alliance GSA provides a safe space for all individuals to express themselves, their sexual orientations, and gender identities. Our goals are to promote understanding of LGBTQIA+ people through education, awareness, and visibility. We believe in making South Seattle College an inclusive and supportive environment where all people are respected and nurtured. GSA club activities include meetings, social events, and community involvement.

LantinX Union
The purpose of this organization shall be to promote education, culture, and unity as well as bring together LatinX students and their allies to celebrate culture and engage with like-minded individuals.

1) The South Seattle College Arboretum was established by the College and the SSC Foundation in 1978, in part as the result of a petition by the Landscape Horticulture Program students for an arboretum to serve as their living laboratory. The 5-acre site is located at the north end of campus on a bluff over looking the downtown Seattle, Elliott Bay and the West Duwamish Greenbelt. The Seattle Chinese Garden borders the Arboretum.

The Arboretum is an important part of the SSC Landscape Horticulture Program. As part of their studies, students designed and built the Arboretum. It is used as a laboratory for courses in plant identification, arboriculture, pruning, irrigation, garden renovation, plant problem diagnostics, landscape management and landscape construction courses. The Arboretum is also used as an outdoor classroom by professional horticulturists, hobby gardeners and other college programs. Most of the plants on the Washington Certified Professional Horticulturist exam can be found in the SSC Arboretum.

2) Community Orchard of West Seattle, (COWS) is a non profit organization and partners with Nature Stewards. COWS provides a home-scale model and venue that demonstrates how much food can be grown on a city-sized lot. Produce goes to volunteers and local security programs.

COWS broke ground in the winter of 2011 and in its first year converted a narrow strip of unused land on the north east end of South Seattle College. Today you will find a working community garden and growing food forest orchard.

COWS uses permaculture and organic growing principles. All efforts are made in demonstrating low-maintenance sustainable food production strategies.

Founded in 2017, South Seattle College’s on-campus food pantry provides essential food and toiletry items to students in need. The pantry is funded partially by Student Service and Activity Fees along with community sponsors, and is supported by the United Student Association. Student volunteers take inventory, procure supplies, and distribute food during the food pantry hours of operation.

The food pantry promotes the academic success of students living at or near the poverty line and dealing with housing and food insecurity by providing a reliable source of food on-campus. Many students may not have access to community food banks during class times or face shortages from supplemental food programs. Similar food pantries have been implemented at the University of Washington and Pierce College.

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South Seattle celebrates Earth Week annually. Each year is slightly different, but in spring 2018 we hosted a workshop on EarthShips. South Seattle also recruits and chaperones students to attend the Washington Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference every year. South Seattle hosted WOHESC 2021 in February 2021. Two students who attended WOHESC 2018 used knowledge gained at the conference to host a "Fresh Fest" event at South campus in spring 2018. The event showcased fresh, organic, healthy, affordable, and sustainable foods for students.

The South Seattle Art Gallery offers various sustainability related installations and events throughout the school year. In fall 2008, "Envisioning a Future," artists used sustainable methods or recycled materials to create works which offered both realistic and imaginative solutions to environmental problems. In summer 2015, "Sightseeing Through the Eyes of Northwest Landscape Artists" artworks explored the ways in which each artist uses their unique perspectives and experiences to demonstrate what it means to exist in the living landscape that surrounds us. In fall 2017, work done by the South Seattle Landscape Horticulture students was highlighted through an exhibition featuring botanically themed artworks. The show aimed to not only engage students around the LHO program, but also inspire passion and care for our natural world.

The campus recreation department offers outdoor programs such as guided hiking. They stress principles of pack in pack out, not disturbing wild life and plant life, and leave no trace. For instance, a group of faculty and staff at South Seattle are partk of the West Duwamish Greenbelt Trail. They offer Friday afternoon hikes/walks in the Greenbelt, which runs along the eastern border of campus. The goal of the hikes/walks is to make the college community more aware of the greenbelt trails and to promote the health and well-being of the community and forest.

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1) There is a paid sustainability coordinator on the United Student Association (i.e. student leadership)
2) We hired 1-2 Sustainability Ambassadors in AY 18-19 and AY 19-20 to improve sustainability engagement among the student body
3) The District Sustainability office offers work study positions and internships on an as needed basis

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