Ithaca College
ER-3: Sustainability in New Student Orientation

The Resource and Environmental Management Program (REMP) incorporates sustainability into new student orientation. The group has an educational table with numerous informational packets, hands out door hangers with recycling guidelines for campus, and meets with orientation leaders to teach them how to present sustainability to incoming students. Eco Reps especially target their peer-to-peer educational programs to residence halls where significant numbers of first-year students are housed. This summer, REMP participated in a Residential Life program to create an informational podcast about sustainability-related programs and practices that new students should know. Additionally, there has been a new orientation program implemented that specifically targets sustainability with incoming students. It's called the Sustainable Community Challenge (SCC) and is part of the first year experience within their optional Jumpstart orientation program. SCC participants will travel by bus throughout the Cayuga Lake area and explore the natural features, history, and social structures that have shaped this unique and beautiful bio-region. Sustainability guides lead discussions and exercises about participants’ observations and sites they have explored. SCC helps new and transfer students learn about being a part of a connected community and understand the impact they have on a local, regional, and global level.