Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 72.94
Liaison Jim Dees
Submission Date Dec. 5, 2023

STARS v2.2

Appalachian State University
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Jim Dees
Data and Assessment Specialist
Office of Sustailability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer, sustainability educators program

Number of students enrolled for credit:
19,280

Total number of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
19,280

Percentage of students served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
100

1st program

Name of the student educators program (1st program):
Zero Waste Stadium

A brief description of the student educators program (1st program):
Appalachian State University is committed to working toward a zero waste campus. In keeping with this commitment, Athletics partnered with the Physical Plant and Office of Sustainability to develop a zero waste stadium and fieldhouse plan, which was implemented in the 2014 football season. Prior season planning involves thoughtful purchasing of supplies in order to ensure all service items used are sourced responsibly, and can be recycled or composted. The stadium game day waste collection consists of zero waste zones for the collection of compost and recycling throughout the concourse areas. These zones have ample signage and zero waste attendants at each location to ensure attendees are educated and aware of which container to use when discarding their waste. The attendants are students who are educated about the program and on community outreach. The goal is for students to be the driving force behind guiding their peers towards the zero waste goal.

A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (1st program):
The target audience for the Zero Waste Stadium is any and all attendees of the Appalachian State Football games. The total attendance for the 2019-2020 season is estimated to be 148,022 people.

Number of trained student educators (1st program):
19

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (1st program):
6

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (1st program):
8

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (1st program):
912

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (1st program):

If reporting students served by additional peer-to-peer programs, provide:

2nd program

Name of the student educators program (2nd program):
Appalachian State University Sustainability Ambassador Program

A brief description of the student educators program (2nd program):
Office of Sustainability Student Sustainability Ambassador Program is a peer to peer student educator program design to engage and inform the campus community on all aspects of sustainability. Ambassadors represent the office with duties including education/outreach/communication efforts such as tabling, event planning, class presentations, tours and program development.

A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (2nd program):
Sustainability Ambassadors target the entire campus community.

Number of trained student educators (2nd program):
19

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (2nd program):
30

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (2nd program):
10

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (2nd program):
5,700

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (2nd program):

If reporting students served by three or more peer-to-peer programs, provide:

3rd program 

Name of the student educators program (3rd program):
Eco-Reps

A brief description of the student educators program (3rd program):
The Eco-Rep student program is a volunteer, peer to peer sustainability education program designed to develop leadership and education skills by integrating campus sustainability into the residence halls. Students represent one of 20 residence halls on campus and serve as a liaison between the Office of Sustainability and University Housing. These students collaborate with residence hall staff to develop and implement sustainability education activities for their peers. Students will be introduced to the concepts of sustainable living and examine both the cultural and personal values that support, and inhibit, successful sustainability behavior.

Commitments include:

• Attending regular meetings in the Office of Sustainability
• Communication and liaison with the Office of Sustainability and University Housing
• Encourage sustainable practices and sustainable living in your community
• Assist with planning and execution of green/educational events

A brief description of the student educators program’s target audience (3rd program):
Eco-Reps primary targets are peer students who live on campus in the residence halls.

Number of trained student educators (3rd program):
20

Number of weeks the student educators program is active annually (3rd program):
30

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained student educator (3rd program):
5

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (3rd program):
3,000

Website URL where information about the student educators program is available (3rd program):

Additional programs 

A brief description of all other student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:
Solar Vehicle Team:
The team hosts a wide variety of peer outreach. The team maintains a forum on Reddit that has over 300 subscribers. Multiple times a day, subscribers post technical questions, and the SVT has members whose task it is to go through the forum each day and see what is being posted. These members then assign other members on the team to answer the questions posted based on areas of expertise. The SVT has presented at conferences about carbon neutrality, how to structure a business team, how to do outreach events, and how to run social media accounts. The team even won the Spirit of the Event award at a previous race for advancing the sport as a whole. On campus, the SVT often places their car on prominent places on campus in order to allow students to walk by and ask questions. Professors on campus will occasionally reach out to the team for classes, and members will go to the class to give lectures. Educators and speakers from the team are chosen based on experience gained within the Solar Vehicle Team.

ASU Sustainable Energy Society:
Appalachian State Sustainable Energy Society (ASUSES) is a club whose purpose is to educate, enlighten, and inform students and the community about solar and other renewable energy applications, green building, and other aspects of sustainable living. ASUSES hosts workshops, special events, and other educational programs on campus and in the community to inform folks of the importance of renewable energy and sustainable living to our environment and future generations.

Student Gardens:
Interns lead volunteer days, garden tours and workshops. Volunteer days often consist of building new spaces at the garden, planting, or general maintenance. Garden tours involve explaining different projects in the garden, discussing plant varieties, soils, compost and tools. Workshops have ranged from cob building to making kimchi to growing mushrooms. For each volunteer day or tour, somewhere between 10-30 students are served. Total students attending events throughout the year ranges somewhere between 100-200. Interns at the garden have the opportunity to lead other student groups. The student interns usually have attended other events and gain experience by first helping and then leading. Positions are currently paid for by Office of Sustainability. Department of Sustainable Development helps by supplying materials, tools and professional advice. They also use the space for classes and steer students from their program toward internships and volunteer opportunities.

BikeApp:
All of the programs and workshops offered through BikeApp are peer-to-peer. Sanford Tuning is where the group brings their tools and staff to Sanford Mall and tunes bikes for primarily students (occasionally a faculty/staff member) and train while tuning. Student educators are put through an interview that is partially facilitated by the student BikeApp programmer, and the full-time coordinator trains them on policy information. BikeApp student employees run trainings on how to work bikes. BikeApp is primarily supported by Appalachian State through UREC and the Office of Sustainability. UREC provides the funds to pay all of the student staff and to purchase some equipment. Both offices provide the time of some full-time staff, and the Office of Sustainability helps the group secure funds for large projects.

Number of trained student educators (all other programs):
100

Number of weeks, on average, the student educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
35

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per student educator (all other programs) :
10

Total number of hours worked annually by trained student educators (all other programs):
35,000

Part 2. Educator hours per student served by a peer-to-peer educator program

Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators (all programs):
44,612

Hours worked annually by trained student sustainability educators per student served by a peer-to-peer program:
2.31

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the student sustainability educators programs is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.