University of California, Davis
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Bonnie Reiss Carbon Neutrality Student Fellows are selected annually to engage students and increase awareness about the UC-wide Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI), which set a goal for the entire UC system to be carbon neutral by 2025. At least one Fellow is designated to focus on student engagement around CNI, but all Fellows engage and educate the campus community through their work as Fellows.

CNI Fellows attend mandatory orientation and training during the summer before their fellowship, which is held at the annual California Higher Education Sustainability Conference (CHESC). During the school year they attend weekly meetings with their campus supervisor, and at least one system-wide retreat. At the end of their fellowship, the Fellows return to CHESC, where they present posters on their CNI work.

CNI projects and activities have included tabling, workshops, tours, social media posts, and special events like tree plantings and art installations. Graduate students have focused on engaging graduate student populations (e.g. reaching out to professional student groups and clubs and tabling at graduate student events), while undergraduate students have outreached to the undergraduate community (e.g. collaborating with Student Housing and Dining Services to hold workshops and table at the residence halls and dining commons).

All registered students (undergraduate and graduate students)

SPEs serve as sustainability liaisons for residents across the three residence halls areas. SPEs facilitate programs for residents, including weekly tabling in the Dining Commons and 2-4 workshops and programs in the residence hall areas per quarter (10 week cycle). SPEs plan the topics, activities, and education materials. Examples of activities include film screenings, waste sorting games, tours of on-campus gardens, sustainability themed cooking demos, and clothing upcycling workshops. SPEs share sustainability information covering topics such as sustainable food, energy, water, and waste. Information shared is targeted for residence hall students. The SPEs also facilitate the Sustainability Squad activities, a volunteer program for first year students living in the residence halls to learn more about and engage with sustainability, and serve as the sustainability ambassador for their residence hall. Activities incorporating both discussion and hands-on activities are hosted bi-weekly. Education and outreach programs are coordinated with the Nutrition Education and Outreach Program. Many programs are co-hosted together, or sustainability and nutrition talking points for activities are shared between the teams. SPEs also maintain sustainability communication materials, including dedicated sustainability bulletin boards in the Residence Halls and Dining Commons. Bulletin boards includes information about upcoming events, campaigns, and sustainability resources on topics such as sustainability best practices in the Residence Halls, how to identify sustainable food choices in the Dining Commons, and tips to save energy and water in the residence halls.

The Resident Garden Coordinator oversees the Resident Garden @ Segundo. They offer open volunteer hours for Student Housing Residents to gain hands-on experience and learn more about gardening and intersections with sustainability. The Garden Coordinator develops and facilitates at least one tabling activity and workshop per quarter focusing on a sustainable agriculture topic. Example programs include a bouquet making workshop, aromatherapy workshop, and composting workshop.

The Zero Waste Coordinators develop and facilitate waste-specific education for residence halls students. They table once per quarter in the Dining Commons to educate dining guests on the results of the front-of-house dining commons waste audits, and tips to reduce food waste. They also partner with the SPEs to facilitate waste-specific workshops, such as zero waste shopping workshops.

Sustainability interns support all aspects of the sustainability program, including tabling and workshops.

All sustainability student staff support sustainability programs for Residence Advisors (RAs). Students develop and provide program facilitation guides for RAs to host on variety of sustainability topics for their residence hall community. They also co-facilitate these programs with RAs, such as compost bin decorating or upcycled t-shirt bag making.

All student staff are trained on sustainability best practices within Student Housing and Dining Services and education and engagement best practices.

The education program is geared towards students living in the residence halls, the majority of which are in their first year. Approximately 6,100 student.

The UC Davis Student Farm is a 23 acre, certified organic, educational production farm and garden. Students tour the farm as part of courses and work, intern, and volunteer at the farm as they explore sustainable agriculture and food systems. There are currently six major programs at the Student Farm: (1) the Market Garden where students learn about, grow, and sell organic produce as part of a mixed vegetable operation, (2) The SCOPE program where students are breeding new varieties of vegetables and beans for organic systems, (3) the Fresh Focus program which reduces farm food loss and addresses student food insecurity by gleaning and donating excess produce and explore the relationship between agriculture, food, and culture, (4) the Flower Project where students learn about, grow and sell sustainably grown cut-flowers, (5) the Ecological Garden where students learn backyard gardening skills, and (6) the Children’s Garden program where students lead educational tours for K-5 children.

Lead Student Farmers (paid student employees) act as peer mentors to student interns and volunteers. Lead Student Farmers work with and guide interns and volunteers in their learning. The outcomes of this relationship are sustainably or organically grown food and flowers and increased student understanding of sustainable food systems.

Lead Student Farmers and sometimes interns also do broader education events at the farm or with partners. This includes workshops on food access, how to start a plant, or general information about the Student Farm. They may also table at events on campus.

The primary target audience is UC Davis students who serve as peer-mentored interns and volunteers, or as members of the general audience learning from the Student Farm workers. These include students from all majors including Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems, Plant Sciences, Engineering, Chicana/o Studies, and Education.

Learning by Leading Program

Leadership skills and real-world experience combine to help students address the earth’s most important environmental issues. The Learning by Leading™ internship program offers quarter-long and school year-long internships in which students work in a team to solve real-world problems in the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. Internships correspond with the UC Davis academic schedule and are offered fall, winter and spring quarters. Summer internships are offered on an individual basis, in coordination with staff mentors. Student educators are trained via one-on-one interaction with staff mentors, as well as group training sessions using Clifton Strengths Finder books, and leadership strengths training sessions each quarter. Student leaders then run each internship, leading their peers in each respective horticultural or environmental area. Student co-coordinators lead the internships, and are leading the other students who are participating in the internship. Peer-to-peer education occurs in the field based on the topic of the internship, e.g. Habitat Restoration internships receive peer-to-peer education while conducting habitat restoration activities.

Students in this program can graduate with:
-Central Valley gardening, drought-tolerant landscaping, habitat restoration and California native plant cultivation experience.
-Knowledge of horticultural best practices, plant propagation, landscaping, education, and community outreach experience.
-Highly-transferable leadership, team-building, and 21st century professional skills.
-Strong mentor relationships with staff experts and earn recommendations to support future endeavors.
-Knowledge organizing events that engage volunteers, visitors and other community members.
-A new network of students engaged in improving our campus outdoor spaces and positively impacting our planet’s environment

Facilities Energy and Engineering

Student educators are interns that have backgrounds studying communication, environmental science and digital media. They are trained by their peers (experienced interns train new interns). Students are trained on the job by learning about energy efficiency projects as they are being planned and implemented across campus. More formal training takes place in the form of mentorship with their supervisor, a full-time staff member at UC Davis. This training consists of a few hours each week.

In the tour program, students are trained by reading the script written by their fellow teammates and reading up on the project they will be talking about on the Facilities Energy and Engineering Tours. New students lead draft tours for their fellow interns until they feel comfortable delivering the material. When students give these tours, they lead their peers on a guided walk around the campus, stopping at certain points to talk about energy efficiency projects.

Women’s Resources and Research Center On Demand Peer to Peer Workshop Offerings (2019-2020)

Socialization of Gender
Deconstructing Gender, Building Empowerment
Gender Inclusive Language
Intersectionality and Gender

These workshops center around introducing the campus community to gender equity issues, key terms, and strategies for taking action. A formal peer educator program no longer exists; however, the student staff who work at the WRRC are trained and available to facilitate these workshops for student groups (i.e. student orgs, students working in other departments, classes). During 2018-2019, the WRRC trained approximately 300 staff, faculty, and students on gender equity issues.

Hours for all peer-to-peer educators were estimated as conservatively as possible.

Number of trained student educators for SHDS educator programs vary from 12-15 by quarter; we input the most conservative number above.

Number of weeks that SHDS educator programs are active annually varies from 37-52 weeks by year because one program (Resident Garden) runs year-round; we input the most conservative number above.

Average hours worked weekly in SHDS educator programs: Our students work a range of hours per week (between 4-6 hours/week and 8-12 hours/week), and we opted to report the most conservative (lowest) number of hours/week to be prudent.

Average hours worked weekly at Student Farm educator programs varied depending on role. Lead student farmers worked an average of 10 hours a week, while interns worked an average of 3 hours a week. We calculated the total number of hours worked by the two types of student educators, then divided by the total number of student educators to come up with the information provided above.

For more information, visit the following websites:

Learning by Leading: https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/learning-by-leading

Trim the Waste: https://www.trimthewaste.ucdavis.edu/

Facilities Energy and Engineering: https://facilities.ucdavis.edu/energy-engineering/student-involvement

Facilities Energy and Engineering Tours: https://facilities.ucdavis.edu/guided-walk-our-energy-projects

Women’s Research and Resources Center: wrrc.ucdavis.edu