Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 61.13
Liaison Elizabeth Drake
Submission Date March 6, 2020

STARS v2.2

Swarthmore College
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Melissa Tier
Sustainability Program Manager
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Number of students enrolled for credit:
1,667

Total number of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
1,667

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

Name of the student educators program (1st program):
Presidents Sustainability Research Fellows

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

The President's Sustainability Research Fellows (PSRF) program matches motivated students with small teams of staff and faculty mentors to research, develop, and implement projects in a year-long course and associated internship. With a primary focus of advancing sustainability and driving change on campus, peer-to-peer outreach and education is a critical component of the PSRF experience. For example, one recent PSRF project developed a four-part climate short course for faculty, staff, and students to unite community members around a shared sense of purpose in response to the climate crisis. Another project focused on the environmental justice implications of zero waste efforts on campus, and how we can better integrate these concepts into our signage and other materials.

Throughout the course of the year, PSRF fellows conduct research through their coursework and integrate best-practices into their projects in order to engage the student body and create behavior change to advance sustainability solutions. Fellows participate in various trainings and workshops over the course of the year to further build their skills.


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

The target audience varies by research project, but advancing sustainability on campus is a common theme, and most projects touch faculty, staff, and students and at times, the community at large.


Number of trained student educators (1st program):
12

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (1st program):
32

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (1st program):
8

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (1st program):
3,072

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (1st program):
Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
Green Advisors

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

The Green Advisors (GAs) are student workers of the Office of Sustainability who work to encourage sustainable and socially-just lifestyles among all Swarthmore community members. The GAs support environmental justice & climate crisis education/action, work to reduce campus waste generation in close partnership with Environmental Services, oversee the campus composting system, serve as liaisons to the Sustainability Advocates program, and much more.


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

Entire student body


Number of trained student educators (2nd program):
20

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (2nd program):
34

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (2nd program):
6

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (2nd program):
4,080

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (2nd program):
Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
Office of Sustainability Intern

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

The Office of Sustainability hires students every year to assist in administrative tasks and general research (on topics such as embodied carbon for future buildings to be constructed on campus) to support the many projects that fall under the scope of the Office of Sustainability. The Interns serve as student representatives of the Office and are a key channel to peer-to-peer sustainability education on campus. For example, recent interns have focused on topics like social media engagement and visualization of zero waste data, with the goals of creating engaging content for the student body.


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

Office of Sustainability, student body


Number of trained student educators (3rd program):
4

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (3rd program):
30

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (3rd program):
5

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (3rd program):
600

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:

Worthmore Move-Out Managers: Worthmore Move-Out Managers work to manage the Worthmore Free Store, a donation-based enterprise that collects items such as furniture and school supplies to distribute to students who face barriers to obtaining such items. Community members are able to donate or pick up items throughout the year during store hours organized and supervised by the Worthmore Interns. The Move-Out Managers train the student body during the spring semester in how/when/where to donate items in each residence hall.

Worthmore Move-Out Workers: Worthmore Move-Out Workers work to manage the Worthmore Move-Out Program, a large-scale supply collection effort at the end of the spring semester. They supervise student donations in the residence halls, transport donations to the Free Store, and organize materials in the store.

The Worthmore Managers and Workers are formally trained by the Sustainability Program Manager on the ins and outs of sustainability and waste management at the College, and serve as the primary educators for the rest of the student body during move out.


Number of trained student educators (all other programs):
18

Number of weeks, on average, the student educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
30

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per student educator (all other programs) :
1.45

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (all other programs):
784

Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators (all programs):
8,536

Hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators per student served by a peer-to-peer program:
5.12

Website URL where information about the student sustainability educators programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Information for this credit was calculated by representatives from the Office of Sustainability.


Information for this credit was calculated by representatives from the Office of Sustainability.

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.