Thompson Rivers University
EN-3: Student Life

The TRU Eco Club is a student-governed group that holds weekly meetings and a number of events throughout the year to raise sustainability awareness. The group was founded in 2007 and has been very active since its inception. “TRU-ECO's mission is to identify sustainability issues, promote public awareness, develop strategies, and implement solutions in support of sustainability, both on campus and within the community.”
https://www.facebook.com/truecoclub/?fref=ts

In 2019, President Katie Shouldice and fellow member, Christian Andrews were the recipients of the Environmental Sustainability Achievement Award. Heavily involved with the TRU Students’ Union Eco Club, Shouldice has found an alternative way of suction filtration that could save nearly 300,000 litres of water that gets poured down the drain in chemistry labs on campus.
While Andrews helped organize a cleanup of downtown Kamloops on April 6, corralling more than 40 volunteers. He also designed a new product called Coastcards, where he recycled used coasters from bars and restaurants and turned them into greeting cards for several different occasions.
Both were presented their awards during the Beyond Climate film tour on March 8 by environmental activist David Suzuki.
https://www.tru.ca/sustainability/get-involved/awards.html

During the 2021 growing season (May to October) TRU Horticulture Department faculty member Ernest Phillips was involved in a co-curricular initiative outside of class time to help horticulture student Yullin (Dwayne) Guan learn about fundamental aspects of vegetable gardening and how to grow tree root stock in the campus garden known as the ‘ginseng garden’. Mr Guan took the initiative to reach out to Mr Phillips to seek his advice on good growing techniques and learn in a experiential way. Mr. Phillips has been involved in this type of special project in years past with other students as well. If students are particularly interested and keen to learn outside of the classroom in a hands-on way, then Mr Phillips is happy to act as a mentor during key growing months and guide them in their interests regarding sustainable food systems and agriculture.

The Common Grounds Coffee Shop is your only student-owned and operated cafe on campus, striving for superior environmental and ethical standards. They offer fairly traded organic espresso, biodegradable cups and containers, living wages for student employees, and extended hours of service for when you need us most.
https://trusu.ca/services/common-grounds/

On the subject of conferences focused on sustainability, Films For Change is a community-inspired film series showing films of positive and inspiring content related to sustainability, with the intention of bringing together our Kamloops community to connect and raise awareness while sharing the desire to make a difference. Films take place at TRU on the last Wednesday of the month (except December, June, July, and August). Any community group can apply to have a film shown.
https://www.tru.ca/sustainability/get-involved/programs.html

As an example of cultural sustainability, TRU has committed to hosting a traditional powwow that takes place every year in late February or early March. Attracting people from near and far and of all ages for competitive and recreational performances. Participants from various Aboriginal communities within the Secwepemc, Nlaka’pamux, Ts’ilhqot’in, Dakelh, Syilx, and Nuxalk Territories (as well as other distant First Nations) who otherwise might not get the chance to participate and celebrate in this way. However, due to covid-19, 2020, and 2021’s events have been canceled in correlation with group gatherings and restrictions.
https://www.tru.ca/indigenous/news.html

The TRU Adventure U Club, run by the Adventure Studies Department, has adopted the Leave No Trace Principle for all their activities and takes students on day and overnight trips for social events and adventure education. The club operator is required to submit a report prior to trips to ensure industry standards are met. Source: Craig Campbell.
https://www.truadventureu.com/

TRU does not have themed semesters or years.

Education and Skills Training Program (ESTR)
Career options for everyone: Education and Skills Training provides knowledge about future employment opportunities and training in a specific area to students with cognitive disabilities. During the full-time, nine-month program students divide their time between classes, labs, and work placements.
https://www.tru.ca/edsw/schools-and-departments/uprep/estr.html
The students in the ESTR Program have an opportunity to participate/work in a market, supported by the skills the students have learned. Retail work, Kitchen Assistant, trades, and other career exploration, the market has a variety of hand-made local products, home-made meals, and snacks.
https://www.tru.ca/edsw/schools-and-departments/uprep/estr/estrs-market.html

The TRU Sustainability Office has hired students from the TRU Co-op Program, and the Undergraduate Research Assistants Program, as well as students from the TRU Work Study program . All of these students work directly on sustainability-focused tasks alongside office staff.

The Generator is a venture acceleration centre located on campus and designed to foster and develop the start-up tech companies of tomorrow. This economic sustainability program will expose students to the routes into entrepreneurship and show them the possibilities of starting their own companies. The centre will also act as an entry point for industry to engage with TRU researchers and form collaborations. The ultimate goal of the program is to foster a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship on campus, and to allow students access to people in the field who can help steer them toward success.
Another co-curricular program is the TRU student-governed program “Environomics”, which educates local elementary students about environmental economics in fun, interactive ways. Throughout the school year, students are taught about water conservation and quality, ecosystems, healthy eating, ocean acidification, budgeting, private and common goods, and more. The curriculum is adaptable for teachers and each lesson is created as a supplemental addition to the current curriculum. Each section is equipped with an educational field trip or an at-home challenge to truly give experiential learning and ensure retention of the material. Environomics goes beyond the classroom by educating and empowering environmental pioneers of tomorrow. The program is run by the TRU student club Enactus: http://www.enactustru.ca/