University of California, Santa Cruz
EN-1: Student Educators Program

The Student Sustainability Advisor's primary role is to raise awareness and offer educational opportunities within their designated residential communities about the ways campus residents can positively affect and contribute to UCSC's sustainability goals. The SSA collaborates with staff members and sustainability experts from across campus to support and improve rates of recycling, waste reduction, energy and water conservation, composting, food waste reduction, use of green products and patronage of green business.

General recruitment on campus student employment website; interviews; students hired into this position are afforded a housing guarantee

Three day-long training including: lectures and field trips/tours of facilities, discussion on sustainability topics, training on outreach and education, behavior change and leadership, and how to work within the University structure.

The SSAs earn a rent reduction equivalent to $1,500 per quarter for the academic year they are filling this role. This program is also supported by one staff person who oversees the SSA's. Colleges Housing and Educational Services and College Residential Life office pays the students' rent perquisite and part of the staff supervisor salary, the Sustainability Office pays the other part of the staff salary and provides a programming budget.

The Rachel Carson College Sustainability Projects are a service-learning enterprise designed to connect classroom work with practical applications. Groups of first year students participate in a community service activity, all of which focus on a particular aspect of environmental work on campus or in the larger community of Santa Cruz. On-campus project sites include CASFS, college gardens, the Arboretum, and Natural Reserve sites. Off-campus project sites and partners include Natural Bridges State Park, the Homeless Garden Project, Groundswell Ecology, Save our Shores, and Coastal Watershed. All of the opportunities are tailored to further students’ understanding of topics related to sustainability and social justice. These projects foster awareness of campus, community and global issues around sustainability. Students share in a unique experience and generate positive attention for the college as well as the organizations involved.

Students are required to participate in the projects as a part of their first-year College One course.

Projects are led by student leaders who have previously participated in the projects. They facilitate pre- and post-discussions to support student learning. In addition, all projects are facilitated by site hosts who work at that site either full-time or long-term. They help educate student participants about the benefits of one-time projects and introduce them to more significant internship opportunities available.

The projects are fully funded by the Rachel Carson College Council, a student government responsible for delegating the College Student Government fee that all college affiliates pay. The projects are coordinated by the College Programs Coordinator and Chancellor’s Undergraduate Intern, in consultation with the College Provost, Senior Director, and course lecturers.

The Provost's Sustainability Internship Program is a year-long combination course/internship that helps students develop competencies necessary to become effective environmental professionals and leaders. Students are paired with staff or faculty mentors and work closely with them on campus sustainability projects and research that help the campus reach its sustainability goals, as identified by the Campus Sustainability Plan.

Students apply for positions in Spring preceding the academic year they will be in the program. The Sustainability Office reviews online applications and interviews potential candidates for the program. After initial interviews, selected students attend a mentor presentation on projects and select the internships they wish to be considered for. Internship supervisors interview student candidates and the Sustainability Office matches students and mentors based on their ranking preference. Students must have a 3.0 GPA and be in good standing.

Weekly class (2 credits in fall, 5 in winter and Spring quarters) provides professional development and project management training and support through peer-to-peer mentorship and staff leadership.

Students receive a $2,000 scholarship and academic credit for their participation. The Sustainability Office splits the cost of the intern with the sponsoring department.

The Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP) is a collaborative and interdisciplinary effort to reshape the way students learn, effectively mentor students, and engage in projects that support sustainable development adhering to the blueprint for a sustainable campus for the UC Santa Cruz. Using models of horizontal learning, ESLP supports student-facilitated Action Research Teams and guest speakers, while inspiring participants to internalize the concept of sustainability within academia and greater society. During Fall and the beginning of Winter quarter, the ESLP student organizers outreach and recruit facilitators through presenting their organization and opportunities to facilitate sections on sustainable living topics in their Campus Blueprint. The interested student facilitators turn in an application and letter of recommendation for facilitating either a 5-unit Action Research Team (ART) or Creative Thinking and Foundational Tools (CRAFT). The ESLP organizers overview the applications, interview the qualified students, and then decide on the student facilitators through consensus-based decision making. During the winter training course, Developing Leadership in Facilitating Environmental Education, facilitators learn about the UC academic standards, curriculum building and gain skills in facilitation peer-to-peer sections. Each facilitator is required to create a week by week syllabus, at least 10 lesson plans and a rubric listing the learning goals, teaching methods and assessment tools for their sections. The faculty sponsor of this course also supports the training of these facilitators and help mentor their section development. The ESLP organization and staff is funded through the Campus Sustainability Council student referendum. ESLP has a budget of approximately $30,000 each year to fund organizers and create the class each year. Their staff manager, the sustainability program manager, is assessed by the student Staff Evolution committee, which gives feedback and reviews the position each year.

To avoid double counting, we used the number for the Student Sustainability Advisor (SSA) Program as the total number of students enrolled for credit that are served (i.e. directly targeted) by a student peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program (avoid double-counting to the extent feasible) and did not include the numbers from the other programs mentioned above, since the SSA program is so wide reaching.