University of Connecticut
EN-1: Student Educators Program

EcoMadness and RecycleThon are annual month-long competitions held across every residence hall on campus. EcoMadness runs during the month of October focusing on encouraging reducing students usage of energy and water while increasing recycling consumption. RecycleThon is a similar competition solely focused on improving the waste management behavior. The UConn Office of Sustainability hired nineteen EcoCaptain Interns that work out of each residence halls to motivate and educate their peers from within their dorm. One of their responsibilities include student support for these competitions. They hang educational posters around their residential area, organize events to raise awareness and provide ideas of what students can do in their dorms to conserve energy and water and encourage recycling. For EcoMadness, The Office of Sustainability collaborates with Facilities Operations to use sub-metering data that measures real-time energy and water use in each metered residence halls across campus and then use this data to report weekly results and standings. At the end of each competition, residents in the wining residential hall receive UConn Dairy Bar Coupons. Information about the competition is distributed across campus via email, flyers, the UConn Daily Digest, and tabling in the Student Union.

The target audience of EcoMadness and RecycleThon is all the residential students on campus.

From a partnership between UConn Residential Life and the UConn Office of Sustainability (OS), nineteen student EcoCaptain Interns were hired as ambassadors for sustainability in the residence halls. EcoCaptain Interns aid OS staff and office interns in holding various programs like previously described EcoMadness and RecycleThon competitions, Earth Day Spring Fling, and the Green Careers Panel. Additionally, they are responsible for hosting sustainability-related events for their respective residence halls. A broad range of activities have been conducted including professional development lectures, reusable tote bag making events, and jeopardy containing questions on the local environment. EcoCaptain Interns also collaborate with other departments such as UConn Landscaping Services and UConn Facilities Operations. Many residential areas overhauled their recycling and trash bin systems to better serve residences and make sustainable waste systems more efficient and equitable by working with Facilities Operations. Additionally, EcoCaptain Interns organized a campus-wide cleanup of litter by working with UConn Landscaping and the UConn Student Union.

The target audience of the EcoCaptain Intern program is all residential students on campus.

Each Fall, UConn designates one early-season home football game as a Green Game Day. Similarly, during the spring semester, UConn also selects one men's basketball game and one women's basketball game to be Green Game Days. For these selected games, interns at the Office of Sustainability partner with the UConn Athletics department to include promotion of these events and other recycling and environmental information during pre-game and in-game marketing and public service announcements. The UConn Office of Sustainability uses student interns and volunteers from environmental organizations on campus to be peer educators. Their duties are to welcome fans to the game, run a booth with environmentally-themed games and trivia contests for fans, provide fans with information about sustainability at UConn, and encourage them to recycle during the event. During basketball Green Game Days, volunteers “man the can” at each waste station and help fans throw away trash and recycling properly. After the game, the peer educators walk through tailgate areas (football games) and fan sections in the basketball arena, to collect any recyclables that have been left behind. Cheerleaders, pep/marching band members and the UConn mascot wear green-colored and/or Green Game Day items. PSAs shown on stadium "jumbo-trons" at various times during the game provide fans with environmental messages. At each game the fans are engaged as much as possible to educate them about recycling and other conservation-based behaviors and practices.

The target audience includes the general public who attends the games, in addition to UConn students, staff, and faculty.

Spring Valley Student Farm: The Spring Valley Student Farm is an on-campus farm that houses eleven student farmers and gives them the opportunity to learn about sustainable community living, organic food growing methods, and the business aspects of how food is harvested and processed. Collected food is then either given to UConn Dining Services and prepared in dining halls or it is sold at farmers markets on campus. Students from the farm are peer educators about sustainable food production and living during the Farm Fresh Markets, volunteer Farm Fridays, and Spring Valley Student Farm Club meetings that are open to all students. Additionally, the Farm Manager advises students and student farmers on a variety of activities ranging from outreach to land management. The Spring Valley Student Farm is a collaborative venture between Dining Services, Residential Life, EcoHouse Learning Community, First Year Programs, the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, the Office of Sustainability, and UConn Service-Learning Initiatives.

Earth Day Spring Fling: The Earth Day Spring Fling is an annual celebration of sustainability co-sponsored by UConn's Office of Sustainability, UConn Dining Services, and the UConn Arboretum Committee. Established in 2008, the festival features sustainable and hand-crafted goods, organic and local foods, environmental organizations, and student groups that collaborate to produce the greatest day of environmental awareness all year! Student organizations were invited to table and share sustainability efforts that they are currently working on or completed. It is also an opportunity to educate peers on different aspects of sustainable living, including encouraging students to reduce food waste, avoid single-use plastics, become politically engaged, and more. This event was open and advertised to all students, staff, and faculty members on campus in addition to local community members. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Earth Day Spring Fling was not held since 2019 but in 2022, the celebration came back to campus with over 3500 community members in attendance.

UConn Adventure Center (UAC): The UAC offers backcountry programs like hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, snowshoeing, xc skiing, mountaineering, climbing, ice climbing, paddle boarding, white water kayaking, and more! Each of their activities have Leave No Trace education to reduce impacts outdoors. It provides college students with transportation, guidance, resources, education, and access to the outdoors. The UAC offers educational programs and clinics on things like bike commuting, bike maintenance, adventure trip reports, women's specific backcountry care and safety, introductory backpacking information, connecting with outdoor jobs, and more! It allows many people to try new activities or experience the backcountry for the first time.

EcoHusky, EcoGarden, Outing Club, Soil & Water Conservation Society, Horticulture Club: These environmental clubs of UConn all engage with students to introduce them to the outdoors and sustainability. A variety of outreach and education programs occur including, but not limited to clothing swaps, campus cleanups, educational speakers, art events, plant giveaways, garden hours, maple syrup tapping, and trips to a variety of parks. Each E-Board has 4 members and 1 advisor who helps execute the vision of the club

EcoHouse Learning Community: The EcoHouse Learning Community is a living space in Werth Tower that allows environmentally-engaged students to live and learn together. EcoHouse requires students to volunteer with sustainability-related organizations which allows them to learn a variety of skills. Activities include Spring Valley Student Farm ‘Farm Fridays’, Hillside Environmental Education Park trail cleanups, and career panels with environmental professionals. EcoHouse has 5 Floor Mentors and 2 Resident Assistants who support the Director.

https://sustainability.uconn.edu/ecomadness/
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/recyclethon/
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/ecocaptains/
https://uconntact.uconn.edu/organization/ecohusky
https://uconntact.uconn.edu/organization/ecogardenclub
https://uconntact.uconn.edu/organization/outingclub
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/earth-day-spring-fling/
https://dining.uconn.edu/spring-valley-farm/
https://uconntact.uconn.edu/organization/ecc
https://recreation.uconn.edu/uconn-outdoors/adventure-center/
https://lc.uconn.edu/#:~:text=EcoHouse,learning%20experiences%20and%20academic%20discourse.

The Number of students served at the Green Game Days was estimated by counting the number of seats in the student section at Gampel Pavilion which is 1,731. Since we do two games at gampel, with some student overlap, we multiplied this number by 1.5. Additionally, Rentschler Field has 5,000 student seats with overlap so we multiplied this number by .75 The student section at games tends to be full, and even if not completely full, there are students that have season tickets who sit in the ticketed seats as well. Tickets to athletic events are free for all UConn students, therefore all students are able to attend.