Western Washington University
EN-1: Student Educators Program

The Housing Sustainability program aims to provide on-campus residents with educational programming and initiatives that value and prioritize sustainability in the residential experience. In alignment with Western’s Sustainability Action Plan and University Residences Initiative for Student Engagement (URISE), our programming is designed to prepare students for life after on-campus living, educate students on sustainability, reduce on-campus waste, and help students save money through programs like the Resident Checkout Program. See below for some examples of activities facilitated by the student employees running this program. As part of employee training, everyone who works within this program participates in a tour of facilities around campus, listens to a presentation by the Associate Director of University Residences Facilities, and receives a training document that serves as a resource guide. Meetings with the Associate Director serve as updates on what is happening around campus as well as ongoing training.

1. Go for the Green Competition. The Sustainability Housing Facilities assistants facilitated a competition between the residence halls regarding waste, compost, and recycling. The competition consisted of an active tabling event at the Viking Union where residents can participate in a compost poster-making activity designed to be distributed all over campus next to compost bins to further educate students on proper waste management. In addition, students took part in a hands-on quiz on sorting waste, recycling, and composting on campus. The amount of participation per on-campus residence hall was tallied between the two activities, and the on-campus residence hall with the most participation won the 2022 Go for the green event. The winner got a free dessert bar in their community center. The goal of the activities was to increase awareness of the proper sorting protocols on campus, to hopefully reduce compost and recycling contamination. It was an effective way of incentivizing students in participating in school extracurriculars while efficiently creating educational materials.

2. Residence Hall Reuse Program. Recovery Drive - The student educators collaborated with AS Recycling in the campaign to collect donations for the Residence Hall Reuse Program inventory at the end of the year. This inventory includes things deemed “residence hall essentials,” including (but not limited to) mini-fridges, microwaves, storage bins/hangers, mirrors, shower caddies, small kitchen appliances, desk lamps, dish sets, and many more. Since starting in 2020, the Residence Hall Reuse Program has expanded to serving over 170 on-campus residents with over 250 items in the inventory as of fall 2022. All items in inventory were collected through donations from students moving out from on-campus living. For the 2022-2023 school year, the RHRP inventory list was made available first to students deemed “priority audiences,” including first gen, PEL grant eligible, out-of-state, and international students. These students were deemed priority audiences as they might be less likely to be able to purchase their own residence hall accessories, whether that be from financial disadvantage or inconvenience of transport from having to travel far from their home state/country to attend WWU. One goal of the program is to make living in the on-campus residence halls more affordable and accessible to every student- this is why check-outs from the inventory of items is free to all students, no matter duration of checkout or financial aid state. Another goal of the program is to reduce landfill waste from students buying items for their time in the residence halls, then immediately discarding or throwing those things away when moving out, no matter if the item is still useful or could serve other student need. The program provides a convenient way for students to pass along their lightly used residence hall items and give them a “second life” with new students moving into the halls.

3. Waste Audit Education and Engagement. The Sustainability Housing Facilities Assistants conduct weekly capacity and contamination waste and compost audits all over the residence halls on campus, extrapolating data to serve as educational materials for Residence Hall Staff and the Residence Hall Association. The waste audit's purpose is to provide a reoccurring insight into the contamination rates of different residence halls, as well as capacity, effectively creating a narrative on how facilities management can adapt to this information. The program team is responsible for the maintenance of the signage in the depots around the residence, targeting a reduction in specific contaminants in specific depots.

4. Clothing Swap. The clothing swap was a campaign to spread awareness and education about fast fashion, teaching students alternative ways of having new articles of clothing. The Sustainability Housing Facilities Assistance was able to collaborate with the Zero Waste Coordinators in planning and facilitating the campaign. The student educators were also able to connect with Lydia’s Place, Y’s Buys, and Flip Kids & Maternity Consignment Shop (not-for-profit organizations local to Bellingham, WA). There were over 350 students that participated in the campaign, including the students that pledged various ways they can support sustainability in their community.

All students living on campus within residence halls.

On a monthly basis a student ambassador, employed by Western's Sustainability Engagement Institute, facilitates roundtable sessions during which students from across campus are invited to learn about sustainability and collaborate for positive change. Between the monthly sessions, the student ambassador meets with active students to help them advance their ideas and/or connect them with resources from around campus.

The ambassador goes through a week-long fall staff training with all other student and non-student employees of the Sustainability Engagement Institute, where they learn about sustainability across campus, learn facilitation techniques, and are introduced to staff across campus engaged in this work. There are then weekly check-in meetings and facilitation observations that allow for continuous growth throughout the academic year.

All students from across campus are invited (posters and social media highlight that no experience is needed). The audience that has most consistently shown up to the roundtable sessions are students already engaged in sustainability efforts on campus who are looking for collaborators and a peer community in this work. This engaged audience includes club leaders and student employees from across campus who are engaged in sustainability work.

The number of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program includes students who live on campus and have access to the Housing Sustainability Program. The number does not include all of the student body, who are invited to attend the Sustainability Roundtables because the outreach on the latter program is fairly limited, thus it does not feel appropriate to include all students.