Athletes Go Green

New week of sustainability presented by SCU Athletics

For the first time in Santa Clara’s history, the Center for Sustainability and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) collaborated on an initiative to heighten awareness about how students can become more environmentally conscious.

Mandi Sit, a student engagement intern at the Center for Sustainability, and Nate Redbino, a residence life intern, spoke at the  Sustainability Guide Training on Monday. 

The training session was the first event of the Sustainability Week co-hosted by the Center for Sustainability and SAAC. 

The Sustainability Guide Training was the first event of this unique Sustainability Week. The week also included the Center for Sustainability’s quarterly LOCALS potluck, which occurred on Wednesday at a house lived in by members of the women’s cross-country team. The LOCALS potluck serves to foster conversations about sustainability issues and connections between students who are passionate about sustainability. 

Additional activities have been planned. Upcoming events include a Sustainability Night at the Women’s Basketball game versus Pepperdine on Thursday. During the game, the Center for Sustainability will be conducting a waste sorting game at halftime. At the game, there will be locations to donate used clothing. The clothing will go towards the Swap For Good event, a campus-wide clothing swap in which donations from all over campus are pooled in a pop-up store.

Additionally, on Saturday, an opportunity to volunteer planting trees will be offered at Our City Forest, a local nonprofit.

Santa Clara’s Center for Sustainability is the focal point for Santa Clara University’s Justice and Sustainability Strategic Priority, which aims to create a more just, humane and sustainable world.

A collaboration between an environmentally-focused group and a panel of student-athletes may seem unusual. However, this is not the case. 

For example, Emma McCurry, a SAAC representative and co-captain of the women’s cross-country team, serves as a food systems fellow at the Center for Sustainability. 

McCurry was in charge of organizing the event, yet, it was still eye-opening for her. 

“Even for myself, someone who works at the Center for Sustainability, I still was able to learn something new,” McCurry said after the event.

“The center for sustainability is such an amazing resource, and source of knowledge,” Noe Obermeyer, president of SAAC, said, “I wish I had known about all the programs and events they put on at Santa Clara years ago!”

Contact Kalen Abe at kabe@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.