“Outsiders” at the San Francisco Outdoor Nation Summit 2012
Photo Credit: Outdoor Nation

At the San Francisco summit, Patricia Tillmann, an Emerging Leader working as a Research Associate at NWF in the Seattle office described the training as “youth engagement done right”. Patricia had this to say about what went well for her:
“For me, the North Face Ambassadors were really inspiring. We had a campfire in the evening and the Ambassadors humbly shared their stories. Most of them came from at-risk backgrounds and shared exceptionally powerful stories about the role of nature in turning their lives around. I felt very emotional during their stories and reconnected to the positive power of nature in all our lives. “

Patricia’s group devised a project idea that will be funded by Outdoor Nations. Her project mission is to inspire a lifetime in the outdoors and bridge the gap between interest and action – one video at a time. They will accomplish this by increasing youth access to the outdoors by creating and showing a video of their favorite outdoor activities to high school students (at least 1,750 students in the first year). They will also create pamphlets with information on gear rental, training, and excursions, emphasizing free and low-cost options in their area.

Photo Credit: Outdoor Nation

“The weekend focused on devising a plan for encouraging outdoor activities and the attendees represented a very diverse mix of public and private groups who all helped with the envisioning process. More importantly, the event was very helpful to my diverse group of students from three colleges; it encouraged collaboration and introduced them to the larger movements beyond their campuses.”

Overall, the ELC Outdoor Nation participants enjoyed their weekend with fellow outsiders. Many of them are already considering bringing a new delegation of outdoor enthusiast to a summit next year!

Sustainable Skidmore

Topics covered in the S-Rep program include: waste reduction and recycling, climate change and energy conservation, food and composting, and more. S-Reps participate in training before the start of the academic year and meet biweekly throughout the semester to learn about selected topics and to discuss and plan activities for their dorms.

According to Skidmore, the most successful element of their S-Rep program is the creation of the Student S-Rep Manager position. By creating a position for a person that had previously been an S-Rep, there is an understanding of the challenges faced by current Eco-Reps that the Sustainability Coordinator (staff) may not have. The most successful S-Rep-initiated program on campus is “Skidmore Unplugged,” where residence halls compete to reduce their individual energy consumption over a period of three weeks every November. (An excerpt from Student Sustainability Educators).

Authored by Dr. Christina Erickson, Sustainability Director at Champlain College in Vermont, and co-published by National Wildlife Federation and AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education), Student Sustainability Educators can be downloaded for free, at www.nwf.org/EcoReps.

Student Sustainability Educators features examples from 18 campuses highlighting their efforts to design, implement and evaluate Eco-Rep Programs. Readers of the guide will find:
• Step-by-step action items and tips for creating, maintaining and evaluating a campus Eco-Rep program
• Brief descriptions of actual programs and their best practices
• Case studies of successes and roadblocks
• Activity, event, marketing and outreach examples
• Eco-Rep recruiting tools, sample job descriptions, and other resources

Reference:
In addition to Student Sustainability Educators, blog content includes highlights from the Sustainable Skidmore website.