University of Pennsylvania
EN-2: Student Orientation

Move-In Green, founded in 2012, is Penn’s move-in engagement program dedicated to environmental sustainability. The program gives upperclass environmental leaders the opportunity to educate incoming students (first year and transfer students) around sustainable lifestyles and to raise awareness of the goals within the University’s Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0.

 

Volunteers help incoming students learn about recycling on campus, ways to reduce their carbon footprint, and opportunities to get involved in sustainability initiatives at Penn. Average annual achievements of the Move-In Green student volunteers include:

- Work with students, parents, and Penn Housekeeping staff to separate and dispose of waste associated with move-in.

- Tables outside dormitories to help educate parents and students about sustainability at Penn;

- Contribute to recycling about ten to fifteen tons of cardboard during New Student Orientation, in support of Penn’s Housekeeping and Urban Park sustainability efforts;

- Target 1,000 new followers across Penn Sustainability's 3 social media platforms, which help to inform students about important sustainability news and events on campus;

 

There is also a Move-in Green video Penn Sustainability website with tips to green their move-in, ways to get involved on campus, and other important information related to sustainability at Penn geared toward new students. This information is distributed as an email to all new students via Penn's Residential Services.

 

Since 2012, the Penn Sustainability Office has held a late summer training workshop and/or provided an online training program during Resident Advisor/Graduate Associate orientation about sustainability initiatives on campus and how to get on-campus residents involved in sustainability programs.

 

For graduate students, New Student Orientation is less centralized than its undergraduate counterpart, but various trainings, tours, activities, and resources are available to incoming graduate students through the Graduate Student Center. Penn Sustainability has offered campus ecology tours to incoming graduate students as a part of their New Student Orientation. The student organization Climate Leaders @ Penn has offered a "Meet & Greet With Penn Centers" at the beginning of the semester to give incoming graduate students the opportunity to speak with sustainability-related academic and operational centers across campus about programming, research, and other opportunities.