Student Organizations

Take a big breath and sit back, midterm season is finally over!

Perhaps it's just me, but I often get overwhelmed by the sheer number of events and activities there are to do on campus. It's a double-edged sword as there are so many fascinating speakers, seminars, and fairs to attend, but it's hard to narrow down exactly which ones to pay attention to from the never-ending list.

The new Green Dawgs program at the University of Washington encourages student groups to make their meetings, events, and member practices more sustainable. The program launched this fall, and is looking for a student Program Outreach Ambassador volunteer.

The outreach ambassador would work up to five hours a week to contact and inform student groups about the Green Dawg Certification program.

Though our city isn't known for sunny weather, solar arrays are still a highly viable source of energy for the PNW, and solar panels are starting to appear on rooftops across campus. Solar power installations can be found on the roofs of many West campus residence halls, including Mercer, Elm and Alder.

The Society for Ecological Restoration UW Chapter's native plant nursery is looking for two interns for the fall quarter - a communications intern and a plant propagation & production intern. Interns will work an average of nine hours a week on nursery projects, and can receive credit for ESRM 399 or through their school. Time will be split between routine plant maintenance, plant propagation, nursery infrastructure projects, helping with weekly volunteer work parties, and individual projects.

Students who are in the UW Greek system and have an interest in Environmental Leadership or Sustainability Consulting can earn course credit through the Green Greeks Representative program and Environmental Studies this fall.

For the first time, this year Green Greek Representative program is an accredited 1-2 credit course. Students will represent their chapter and work on environmental projects while gaining leadership experience and learning about sustainability solutions.

Shelby Cramer's path to the Husky Green Award started with a simple question.

"I was walking with my little sister, and she randomly asked me what this tree was, this tree that was outside our house for years and year and years," Shelby said. "I didn't know what to tell her because I didn't know what that tree was, and that was kind of a light bulb moment. I felt a weird sense of shame in not knowing my own place."

In 2009, a small group of students started a grassroots campaign to create a student-powered green fund at the University of Washington. The idea quickly gained wide support, and today the Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF) has granted more than $2 million to student-created sustainability projects, giving UW students a chance to shape the future of campus.

Cassie Maylor has had a passion for the environment pretty much as far back as she can remember.

Living just outside Seattle in Kenmore, Cassie's parents regularly took her and her brother to National Geographic talks. Even as an elementary student, she was fascinated.

The third annual Resilience Summit, hosted by student group ReThink, gave attendees perspective on the intersection of business and sustainability. Though the event hosted speakers representing diverse interests, a common question became clear through conversation: how does one incentivize sustainability at a business and citizen level?

The University of Washington’s Seattle campus won the 2017 PAC-12 Grand Champion award during RecycleMania, a national collegiate waste diversion tournament. The 786 metric tons of CO2 that UW kept out of the landfill is equivalent to the total amount of energy consumption of 68 households, or removing 154 cars off the road.

The student organization EcoReps supported UW Recycling’s efforts in generating event awareness on campus this year.