Virginia Tech
ER-3: Sustainability in New Student Orientation

Beginning in 2009, sustainability has been prominently featured in New Student Orientation. The Office of Energy and Sustainability (OES) and the student group Environmental Coalition joined together to participate in the 2009 New Student Orientation Hokie Resource Fair, which introduced incoming freshman, transfer students, and their parents to Virginia Tech’s many student organizations, including all sustainability initiatives. In 2010 New Student Orientation was restructured to streamline the information provided to incoming students. Campus organizations and departments were invited to participate in Gobblerfest on the first Friday of the fall semester, instead of the Hokie Resource Fair. Gobblerfest is a welcome festival for students, staff, faculty, and community members to learn more about Virginia Tech and the Town of Blacksburg community, find ways to get involved with student organizations, volunteer opportunities, campus events, and what local businesses have to offer. OES has had a booth at Gobblerfest to promote Virginia Tech’s ongoing sustainability initiatives and sustainability-related student organizations on campus every year since 2010. To ensure that sustainability was still prominently featured in the 2010 New Student Orientation events, OES partnered with the Student Government Association (SGA) to train the 2010 New Student Orientation Leaders about the importance of sustainability at Virginia Tech, the ongoing sustainability initiatives, and ways that new students could get involved. Additionally, the 2010 SGA president, Bo Hart, included remarks about sustainability in his speech during New Student Orientation. OES continues to train the new student orientation leaders every summer. In summer 2014, OES also had the opportunity to do a sustainability training with the Transfer Student Orientation Leaders, a partnership that we intend to continue. Additionally, for the 2014 program, OES partnered with Dining Services Sustainability and the YMCA to present a more holistic presentation about all sustainability initiatives on campus, rather than just OES initiatives.