Students and faculty gathered near Parks Library to celebrate Campus Sustainability Month, an annual event highlighting the university’s ongoing efforts to create a greener, more environmentally conscious campus.
Hosted by the Office of Sustainability on Monday, the event brought together campus organizations, local agencies and student leaders for an afternoon of hands-on learning, community connection and sustainable fun.
Trinity Khalek, a senior in event management, works for the Office of Sustainability as a campus and community engagement intern and helped set up the event.
“I help plan events through the Office of Sustainability. In the beginning of the school year, it was planning it out and creating emails and invitations,” Khalek said.
After the initial planning was done, Khalek switched her focus to bringing in outside organizations and getting students involved.
“Then we did all the logistics: creating the event layout, securing catering, choosing the activity that we have, which is like a DIY craft made from recycled materials,” Khalek said.
The Office of Sustainability, made up almost entirely of students such as Khalek, works year-round to organize these initiatives.
“We have a two-member team that oversees all of our newsletters, a two-member team that does all of our events, and one member team that does all of our social media campaigns. Our graduate student helps to provide mentorship to all of the teams as well as assist with our website interactions,” Director of Sustainability Merry Rankin said.
According to Rankin, the Office of Sustainability has a large workload that oversees the sustainability of the entire campus.
“There’s really not a typical day, which makes it really exciting, because sustainability covers every component of campus,” Rankin said. “I can come in and have my schedule and then have opportunities in all sorts of different areas.”
While Rankin and Khalek both enjoy their roles with the department, they both reflected on how their impact on the community keeps them going.
“My favorite part is that I get to work with students,” Rankin said. “I get to be inspired by them and challenged by them to be more effective and more relevant. You all bring so much energy, you’ve got such inspirational visions and you really have so much hope for what the future can be.”
For students like Khalek, networking with other organizations and helping out the community are why she works with the Office of Sustainability.
“My favorite part has been learning about the different organizations and resources available regarding sustainability,” Khalek said. “I like how I’m helping spread awareness about what they do and how they can involve others.”
The Campus Sustainability Month event marks just the beginning of a year filled with sustainable opportunities.
“This is our first event for the academic year,” Rankin said. “Sustainapalooza is coming up in March, and then Earth Day is in April. These events are also meant to showcase the commitment to sustainability, the interest in sustainability and the involvement of sustainability of our campus community.”
For more information about the Office of Sustainability and future events, click here.
