Wake Forest University
EN-3: Student Life

The Compost Crew was formed in 2017 out of significant interest in food waste reduction and diversion among undergraduate students. Students in this group seek out additional opportunities to collect organic waste on campus, including at events and in residence halls, and work together to implement and maintain collection programs.

The Plant-Forward Dining Committee also formed in 2017 out of student interest in the promotion of plant-forward diets. Students in this group work closely with the Office of Sustainability and the campus nutritionist to conduct outreach, raise awareness, and increase plant-forward offerings on campus.

Commonplace (formerly EcoTheo) is a student organization at the School of Divinity that seeks to deepen the knowledge, formation, and sense of community of those concerned with ideas of food, health, ecological justice, and faith. This student organization organizes hiking trips, shares meals, attends events off-campus, and serves together. They also sponsor
community lunches periodically, which are sourced locally.

The Environmental Law Society consists of students at the School of Law with a passion for sustainability. The group strives to promote awareness and discussion of international and domestic environmental issues, encourage collaboration with the community and environmental organizations, and facilitate networking and help with locating internships.

Deacon Dining Connection is a student organization dedicated to influencing and discussing dining decisions at Wake Forest, many of which pertain to local and organic sourcing and vegetarian and vegan options.

Cultivate Consciousness is a student group concerned with humanity's relationship with climate and the environment as a whole. Their objective as an organization is to increase awareness of climate change and other environmental threats.

The Campus Garden was started in the fall of 2009 as the result of the interest of two professors, one in the Biology Department and one in the English Department. Two to three Office of Sustainability interns manage the garden and host volunteer hours twice a week where students and other members of the campus community can learn about sustainable, organic food production. The interns also host stakeholder meetings throughout the year and plan and run at least one major event each semester. The primary purpose of the campus garden is educational; the garden serves as an outdoor classroom and demonstration area for regenerative agricultural practices -- from cover cropping and crop rotation, to plant selection and no-till practices. The garden hosts pollinator hives and laying hens.

Some rows in the garden are comprised of tomatoes, which are the subject of genetic research and community outreach. Additionally, the garden has been used as a hands-on outdoor classroom for many classes spanning biology to religion, the "Students Promoting Action and Responsibility in the Community" (SPARC) program, and a summer program for high school students (LENS). Food grown in the garden is distributed to community agencies through the Wake Forest Campus Kitchen project or sent home with volunteers. The garden is tended using organic gardening techniques; soil amendments for the garden are generated in an on-site compost area. In 2017, the Office of Sustainability hired a part-time garden manager to help advise the student interns and improve the effectiveness of the educational programs.

Campus Grounds is a student-run coffee shop on campus. They serve Krankies Coffee, a local roasting company that "strive(s) for honesty, transparency, sustainability, and excellence" (www.krankiescoffee.com). Campus Grounds serves other local products as well, including Bagel Station bagels, Sunshine energy drinks, and UpDog Kombucha, and gives a 20% discount on beverages when a patron brings a reusable mug or thermos. The shop practices end-of-tailpipe waste diversion as well by composting their used coffee grounds and filters. Learn more about the intentional switch to Krankies Coffee: http://sustainability.wfu.edu/2012/09/27/campus-grounds-serves-locally-roasted-coffee/

UpDog Kombucha is a business venture started by Wake Forest students that now sells local, natural beverages on campus and throughout the Winston-Salem community.

The Fresh Food Network (FFN) was a student entrepreneurial business that was launched at WFU in the fall 2014 by an undergraduate student. The business employed three additional student staff and only sold goods that were locally produced and/or organic, some from farms owned by alumni and faculty. Orders were delivered to campus and picked up by the customers. FFN also instituted a reusable bag swap program to reduce waste. Unfortunately, the enterprise did not continue once the founding students graduated.

Wake Forest hosts a variety of speakers and symposia related to sustainability and designed to engage students. During the 2016-2017 academic year, the Office of Sustainability and the Center for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability (CEES) hosted talks by writer, naturalist, and advocate Terry Tempest Williams and environmental, social, and cultural photographer Jason Houston. Shortly before the transition of power in the federal government, the Office and CEES teamed up to host a moderated panel of experts to discuss the future of environmental policy.

In addition, the Office held a film screening of the food waste documentary "Just Eat It" and co-presented a workshop with the Office of Personal and Career Development on careers in sustainability.

Throughout the school year, Office of Sustainability staff members also give guest lectures in first-year seminar courses and Health & Exercise Science courses.

Wake Forest hosts a variety of cultural arts events and installations throughout the year to support Winston-Salem's designation as the City of the Arts & Innovation. In November 2016, the Office of Sustainability and the Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (CEES) hosted a talk and performance by Rolling Stones musician and tree conservationist Chuck Leavell. In addition to performing, Leavell talked about his passion for sustainability and his work as a tree farmer and steward.

The Reynolda House Museum of American Art hosts exhibits that draw both campus and community members. In the spring of 2016, the museum featured an exhibit of landscape photography by Ansel Adams that coincided with the centennial of the National Park Service. The National Parks Conservation Association joined Reynolda House as the National Outreach Partner for the exhibition. During the exhibition season, Reynolda House embarked on a series of events and talks focused on themes of sustainability and preservation. In the spring of 2015, the museum hosted George Catlin's American Buffalo. The exhibit featured massive herds of buffalo roaming the Great Plains and portray how embedded they were in the daily lives of American Indian tribes.

The START Gallery, a year-round venue for student works of visual art, hosted exhibitions titled "Filtered through Nature" and "Living Landscapes" during the 2014-2015 academic year. In the fall of 2014, Hanes Gallery featured the exhibition "Spencer Finch: color / temperature."

Wake Forest's campus is also home to a Museum of Anthropology with rotating exhibits that support sustainability-related installations. In the spring of 2015, the museum hosted "Understanding Our Past, Shaping Our Future," a traveling exhibition focused on Cherokee language and culture, using sound recordings as the basis for presenting a coherent story in words and text. Major themes included Cherokee homeland, heritage sites, tourism, family, and community celebrations.

Outdoor Pursuits is Wake Forest Campus Recreation’s outdoor adventure program and is dedicated to helping the Wake Forest community get outside and enjoy the wilderness, while also adhering to Leave No Trace principles. The organization provides a gear rental service to interested students and helps manage Re-Cycle, Wake Forest's bike sharing program. Outdoor Pursuits also plans and leads outdoor adventure trips for Wake Forest University students, staff, and faculty, including trips for course credit and a pre-orientation program, Wilderness to Wake. Outdoor Pursuits is run students and two full-time staff members.

First-year students are tasked with reading a book as part of "Project Wake," a summer academic project, before arriving on campus for orientation. The theme for the fall of 2016 was "Citizenship," and many of the book choices had themes of environmental sustainability, including: "This Changes Everything" by Naomi Klein; "Future: Economic Peril or Prosperity" by Robert Whaples, Christopher Coyne, and Michael Munger; "Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion" by Elizabeth L. Cline; and "The Last American Man" by Elizabeth Gilbert. Other options focused on other aspects of sustainability, such as social and economic equity.

In the previous two years, the themes were "Exploring Difference, Embracing Diversity" and "Civility," both of which focused heavily on the social component of sustainability.

Office of Sustainability staff members give guest lectures to students throughout the year. Typically, these lectures focus on introductory sustainability principles, what we are doing at Wake Forest, and the decisions students can make to reduce their ecological footprint on campus and at home.

Members of Wake Forest's peer education programs (Sustainability Ambassadors, Greeks Go Green, and the Student-Athlete Sustainability Network) conduct outreach with their peer groups about sustainable life skills such as waste reduction, water conservation, alternative transportation, emissions reductions, and other key topics.

The Sustainability Theme House is an on-campus housing option for up to 10 upperclass students who want to live more sustainable lives. Residents collaborate with other theme houses and student groups to hold programs and films relating to the environment and host periodic "family" dinners to which the entire Wake Forest student community is invited.

The Campus Garden, as an educational endeavor, routinely teaches sustainable life skills to student volunteers. Volunteers leave with an enhanced knowledge of what it means to eat local, organic food and how they can rely on themselves to produce food, rather than the grocery store.

For students interested in influencing others through a career or internship, the Office of Sustainability offers "Impact Career" workshops with the Office of Personal and Career Development to teach them how to carve out a career path that allows them to leave a positive mark on our planet.

Finally, the Office provides information on sustainable living at the annual "Arrive & Thrive" event, showing how sustainability and a connection to the environment can enhance students' overall wellbeing.

The Office of Sustainability offers approximately 10 paid student internships each year. Most interns are employed by the Office, but some are employed by Facilities and Campus Services, Procurement, or Auxiliary Services. All interns, however, are on the Sustainability Intern team and meet as a group with Office of Sustainability staff weekly, in addition to individual meetings. The internships are project-based, may vary from year to year, and include management of the campus garden, waste reduction, event analysis, management of the Re-Cycle bike sharing program, sustainable procurement, oversight of the Greeks Go Green peer education group, energy management, and sustainability in dining, among others. All interns are required to complete a two-day orientation at the beginning of the school year.

The Office also employs paid student assistants in areas such as website content development, photography, event management, and waste reduction. These positions are most task-based and do not include the same project management framework used by the interns.

Beginning with the Class of 2011, the Wake Forest Green Graduation Pledge has been offered to all graduating seniors and states, "I pledge to take into account the social & environmental consequences of any future endeavors I pursue. I will work to improve the sustainability of the communities in which I work, live & play." Reusable thermoses printed with this text are given away to seniors who sign the pledge. In 2017, approximately 300 graduating students took the pledge.

Campus Kitchen at Wake Forest is an affiliate of The Campus Kitchens Project based in Washington, DC. The group is a sustainable hunger fighting organization that uses extra food from Campus Dining, local grocery stores, and the Campus Garden as a food resource for Winston-Salem social service agencies. Volunteers engage in cooking and delivery shifts throughout the week.