California State University, Chico
EN-1: Student Educators Program

The Green Campus Program's mission is to engage the student body at CSU, Chico in water and energy conservation practices as well as education on the importance of resource conservation on a personal and local level. Projects range from energy audits and assessments, residential and laboratory energy competitions, tabling outreach, intern-led and faculty sponsored academic courses, green career fairs, and energy efficiency technology retrofits.

Students are recruited by current participants and ISD staff through class talks, tabling outreach and social media campaigns. Each semester, depending on turnover and the number of participants graduating, the group publicizes open spots and recruits new students to join.

Students go through a multi-week training session that covers a range of topics related to energy, water and resource conservation. Best practices from previous projects completed by the group and by similar groups at other universities are shared as case studies.

The Green Campus Program is managed by a Team Manager who is employed in the Institute for Sustainable Development and reports to the Sustainability Programs Manager.

Diversion Excursion is an excellent example of what sustainability means to this campus – it’s about conservation, reuse and reducing environmental impacts in a way that engages students and staff. It’s a collaboratively managed program that involves hundreds of volunteers, many of whom return year after year, and thousands of Campus Housing residents. The program directly benefits a range of community organizations working to help those with limited resources and has become an award-winning model for similar programs on other college campuses. DE is all about taking opportunities for positive social and environmental impact and is a clear demonstration of how hundreds and thousands of small actions add up to a very meaningful difference – over 22,000 lbs of material diverted from our landfill in two days, the majority of that material being reused in our community, and students taking ownership of their ability to affect this change.

Student volunteers are recruited by the program coordinators through a variety of methods including class talks, tabling and social media promotion.

Volunteers attend a pre-event training meeting and also receive on-site training the day of the event. Training touches on which materials can be re-used or recycled and on how to best interact with residents.

Diversion Excursion is jointly supported by University Housing and Food Services, The AS Recycling Program, the AS Sustainability Program and the Institute for Sustainable Development.

The AS Sustainability Outreach & Education Team's mission is to educate the campus community on a variety of topics related to sustainability. They have completed or are currently pursuing outreach and education campaigns on fracking, bottled water, GMO's, local food, waste reduction, and plastic bag bans. These campaigns consist of tabling, digital and physical outreach materials (such as fliers, posters, email blasts, etc.), social media, physical demonstrations, and class talks. The Associated Students Recycling Program provides the recycling services for the campus at California State University, Chico. The program was founded by Chico State students in 1996, and became funded by student fees through a referendum in 1998. With a staff of 15-20 Chico State students, AS Recycling collects an average of 600,000 lbs. of recyclable materials per year. Primary collections include paper, cardboard, cans and bottles, and compost. We offer some smaller additional recycling programs for hard to recycle items like pens, CD’s, and hardbound books.

The Outreach & Education Team is managed by the Outreach & Education Coordinator. This is a student position that is hired by and reports to the Associated Students Program Coordinator for Sustainability. The Outreach & Education Coordinator receives applications and conducts interviews at the beginning of each semester to select 4 interns to make up the Outreach & Education Team. Interns are selected based on communication, research, and marketing skills as well as a commitment to sustainability.

Student educators go through a formal training once they are selected as interns for the Outreach & Education Team. This training includes (but is not limited to): -Tracking Hours -Project Management -Communication Etiquette/Responsibility -Fact Checking -Campus Networking Opportunities

The Outreach & Education Team is a subsidiary group of the Associated Students Sustainability Program. The Sustainability Program is coordinated by the Program Coordinator for Sustainability, which is a full time career staff position within the Associated Students. Student fee's fund the AS Sustainability Program's operations. Each team is allocated funds to support a part time student employee. The budget for the team varies each year, but can reach up to $2,000 annually. These funds are used for outreach materials and education events.

The three programs highlighted here represent some of the bigger, more visible peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs on campus. In all, there are more than twenty student sustainability groups and internship programs across campus, many of which are focused on peer-to-peer outreach and all of which are supported by a faculty or staff advisor.

These programs and their educational / outreach services are open to and marketed to all students on campus. Total number of hours: ~200 students participating across the ~20 programs, contributing an average of 10 hours per student per semester. Green Campus and the AS Sustainability Office, along with the 15-20 other student sustainability programs on campus, directly target and engage the greater student body through events, campaigns, media and outreach throughout the year. https://www.csuchico.edu/sustainablefuture/studentActivities/diversionexcursion.shtml