Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
EN-3: Student Life

All student groups are completely student-run. More information for each can be found at https://behrend.campuslabs.com/engage/. Names and brief descriptions of active student groups focused on sustainability are detailed below:

Greener Behrend encourages the development and implementation of strategies that further ecological sustainability within the Behrend and Erie community. h

Student Garden Club closely directs all campus garden spaces, helping the entire campus community to benefit from these gardens. Further goals of this club include educating the Behrend community about food systems, taking action on campus and in the community to tackle issues related to food systems, and helping individuals develop an appreciation for food and the culture surrounding it.

Reality Check is service driven organization dedicated to social and economic sustainability.

Circle K unites students across the Behrend campus while reaching out into the Erie community and making a difference. This is a nationally recognized organization that fosters the principles of developing leadership skills, community service, and friendship.

The purpose of the Outdoors Club is to organize outings and various recreational activities such as snow skiing, camping, hiking, canoeing, biking, and many other outdoor interests while following Leave No Trace principles.

The Sustainable Food Systems Program at Penn State, developed in 2016, stands on three legs: (1) a Food Systems Curriculum, currently in development, (2) a Student Farm that allows people with diverse backgrounds and interests to learn about where food comes from and apply their unique skills and experiences to a farm setting, and (3) an active engagement and outreach program that connects the campus community with the interests and needs of the broader community within which it resides. The program has seen great success in its infancy and recently expanded to the Penn State Behrend and Penn State Beaver campuses.

The World Wide Teach-In is an event create by Bard College as part their Solve Climate by 2030 project. The project aims to create Climate and Justice dialogues at over 1,000 schools, universities, and communities across the globe.

In 2022, Penn State Behrend joined this Global Movement to become the local site for this event! Our inaugural World-Wide Teach-In event reached over 135 unique student attendees. Our only hiccup was that some of the Reed conference rooms were not big enough (!) for the number of attendees; a very good problem to have.

https://sites.psu.edu/worldwideteachin/

Sustainability minor Julia Shields (political science, '22) created a "Trash-ion Show" display featured in one of the student cafes throughout Earth Week. The event also included a screening of "The True Cost," followed by a gorge walk and clean-up.

https://www.facebook.com/SustainableBehrend/posts/pfbid02CeFfod1g14nczz5rwX9WtjyRC7zLNuDkjxgKVzerwn8qvgeGxxkKWgwEsoDS7HzRl

The purpose of the Outdoors Club is to organize outings and various recreational activities such as snow skiing, camping, hiking, canoeing, biking, and many other outdoor interests while following Leave No Trace principles.
https://behrend.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/outdoors-club

Throughout the AY 2019-2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the holiday, Behrend created the Sustainability Series, a yearlong series of events, which was to culminate with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, 2020. Covid prevented events beyond mid-March 2020, include the final Earth Day culmination event. Nonetheless, the sustainability series was the focus of the year, with a plethora of events connecting to each of the 17 UN SDGs.

https://behrend.psu.edu/story/44481/2019/09/10/penn-state-behrend-celebrate-earth-day-anniversary-sustainability-series

Student interns are hired to work both with the Director of Sustainability and with the Sustainable Food Systems Coordinator.