University of California, Berkeley
EN-2: Student Orientation

During Golden Bear Orientation (GBO), students can hear from sustainability departments around campus as part of the campus resource fair. The departments inform students about sustainability activities, programs and resources around campus.

All new undergraduates had to complete an on-line orientation, Golden Bear Prep, that includes information on campus sustainability: https://orientation.berkeley.edu/before-you-arrive/golden-bear-prep The module "Getting to Know Campus & Bay Area" provides students an orientation on UC Berkeley's sustainable campus. Resources are shared from the The Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC), Office of Sustainability, and Housing & Dining Sustainability. Students are also educated on proper waste sorting on campus and tested on their environmental knowledge with a short quiz.

At GBO, Cal Zero Waste works with Golden Bear Orientation organizers to move the orientation towards being a zero waste event and provide zero waste training and resources to GBO Orientation Leaders during their Orientation Leader training sessions. The training included information about the UC Zero Waste goal and basic information on how incoming students can contribute to bringing the campus closer to that goal as a resident and also as a student. The goal is to have Orientation Leaders integrate the zero waste messaging into their conversations with incoming students during Golden Bear Orientation as well as into the activities that are planned.

Graduate students participate in orientations as well that include the GradFest, a collaborative student activities and resource fair that includes the Office of Sustainability and the Student Environmental Resource Center. The orientation is paperless – students can download The GradBook on the UC Berkeley Events App to get access to the NGSO schedule, handouts, and graduate events year-round. http://grad.berkeley.edu/news/headlines/arrive-orient-and-go/