Join Our Student Team
The Office of Sustainability at Colorado College is a leader in sustainability initiatives. Established in 2013, the Office of Sustainability, alongside the Campus Sustainability Council, works to raise campus awareness and bring sustainability issues to the forefront of conversations and efforts on campus. In order to do this, our office places a great deal of responsibility on motivated and passionate CC students who lead the office toward its goals. Our student employees are a central piece in the office working on a variety of collaborative and independent projects and initiatives that are often embedded in many different offices across the college.
If you are a student interested in making a difference on campus by working on sustainability issues and initiatives, consider applying for a position with our office.
If you have any questions about our student employee program, please reach out to Sustainability Coordinator Mae Rohrbach at mrohrbach@coloradocollege.edu
Program Purpose
Through the learning objectives of the OOS Student Employee Program, we provide an immersive and experiential learning opportunity where students can pursue their passions while building roots in this community that fosters and strengthens their sense of place. This program empowers students to cultivate their leadership skills and develop their personal values that will allow them to continue to integrate sustainability beyond CC and become leaders in their pursuits.
Learning Objectives
- Explain how sustainability practices can lead to a healthier, more resilient, and more equitable world for human societies and their greater ecosystem
- Demonstrate development of professional and transferable skills necessary beyond Colorado College (e.g. - leadership, project management, teamwork, critical thinking, and communication)
- Identify how the work of the students fits into and contributes to sustainability within a larger organization, such as making Colorado College a more sustainable place
- Apply learning in a professional environment that develops personal values and prepares the student to continue to integrate sustainability in chosen career paths
- Demonstrate depth of knowledge by explaining how seemingly separate sustainability topics are, in fact, deeply connected (e.g., the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals)
Our Teams
Academic Year 22-23 Teams
The Office of Sustainability's student employment program is split between 7 teams: Administrative Assistants, CC Exchange, STARS, Emissions, Campus Programming, Waste, and Communications. There are between 1-3 student employees on each team leading programs, collecting data, hosting events, and starting initiatives that fall under each area within the office. Below is a breakdown of each team's responsibilities throughout the academic year.
- Administrative Assistants: The Lead Administrative Assistant and Administrative Assistant positions provide direct support to the Sustainability Coordinator on a weekly basis and as needed to the Director and other student employee positions. This position will assist with a wide range of administrative functions and tasks for the Office of Sustainability throughout the academic year.
- CC Exchange Team: The CC Exchange (formally known as the Swap Space) is led by the Office of Sustainability and is part of the CC Pantry Exchange. The program aims to reduce waste generation and increase waste diversion on campus, expanding the reach of the program by collaborating with community partners (both on- and off-campus) and supporting CC students by providing a space that contributes to their overall well-being by meeting basic needs and more! The CC Exchange Managers oversee the weekly operations of the CC Exchange during open hours.
- STARS® Team: Works to collect and report data for the STARS report. STARS is the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System, administered by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). It is a comprehensive, self-reporting metric that rates institutions across broad sustainability efforts.
- Emissions Team: The Emissions team leads efforts around collecting emission data and reducing emissions across campus. The Emissions team will collect, organize, and calculate emissions with guidance from the Sustainability Director. Additionally, these positions will focus on cultivating a culture of sustainable transportation across the college. Working to spread awareness for Mountain Metro, increase engagement with PikeRide and bicycle programming, and develop the OOS voluntary travel offset program.
- Campus Programming Team: The Campus Programming (CP) team will work to lead active Green Programs, support the coordination of annual events, and provide education and resources to students about sustainability-related activism. The CP team will work to increase engagement within Green Programs and be involved in various levels of planning, coordination, and support of annual events such as Snow Day and Earth Week. This position will be responsible for staying up to date with sustainability-related laws, movements, and other political information that might impact the college. This position’s responsibilities will heavily focus on research, and collaboration with campus partners to support sustainability-related campus programming.
- Waste Team: The Waste team will lead ongoing Office of Sustainability programming and support other waste-focused efforts across the campus. This position heavily focuses on strengthening waste programs/efforts on campus by connecting and working in partnership with other offices/units, such as Facilities Services, Sodexo, ITS, Residential Experience, etc. In addition, the Waste team will work collaboratively to develop a strategic plan to decrease the amount of waste generated on campus and increase our current rates of waste diversion through various education campaigns.
- Communications Team: The Communications team will work closely with the Office of Sustainability staff and interns to effectively communicate the latest sustainability-related efforts, programs, projects, etc. to the CC community. They will also work closely with CC’s Communications Office to coordinate any larger message to the broader community through various channels. Responsibilities can be divided into five main areas: graphic design, website content, written material, social media, and intern campaigns. The Communications team is responsible for assisting and leading both internal and external communication and marketing efforts of the Office of Sustainability.
PikeRide Positions
- PikeRide Field Techs will work closely with the PikeRide Operations Manager to help balance the PikeRide fleet on Colorado College’s campus using a van or e-assist tricycle, moving bikes to new locations across campus and downtown Colorado Springs, taking them to the service location for repair, monitoring and charging bike batteries, and performing basic repairs to the bicycles. Technicians will quickly become masters of Colorado Springs geography and bicycle infrastructure and are the eyes in the field to ensure all hubs and bikes are well-kept and managed while being certain the PikeRide brand is represented positively. Field Technicians may also occasionally be requested to represent PikeRide at college events.
Our Team
