Student Opportunities
The Peddler: A Bike-Powered Coffee Cart Created & Managed by Idea Fund Students
Students are critical partners in advancing sustainability at Dickinson, and have been a driving force behind many of the College’s sustainability initiatives. Dickinson College encourages student sustainability project ideas, organizational activities and hands-on involvement through workshops, institutional funding and advising to promote our living laboratory model. Students are encouraged to get involved from orientation onward. The opportunities are vast and can come in the form of a paid sustainability internship for the college to attending a Bike to Farm potluck event on a fall evening.
Here is a sample of what our students are doing to make a difference:
• Implementing and supporting student-centered projects in more than 40 paid sustainability internships.
• Growing sustainable food for the campus and community at the Dickinson College Organic Farm.
• Protecting water quality across the state of Pennsylvania with ALLARM and community watershed associations.
• Living the good life at the Treehouse, a residence hall for students committed to sustainable living.
• Leading and participating in activities of student organizations such as the Idea Fund, EarthNow, the Sustainable Foods Committee, and Students Interested in Sustainable Agriculture (SISA).
• Turning waste vegetable oil into renewable biodiesel in the Biodiesel Shop for use in College equipment and vehicles.
• Installing solar panels at the farm, the Treehouse and elsewhere on campus.
• Teaching each other to maintain and repair bikes at the Handlebar Bike Shop.
• Mentoring their peers in sustainable practices as Eco-Reps.
• Organizing and managing projects and events with the Center for Sustainability Education.
• Taking Sustainability Investigations and Sustainability Connections courses.
• Conducting research on strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water management, environmental justice, climate change adaptation, ecological impacts of ocean acidification, and other topics.
• Promoting sustainability goals as members of the President’s Commission on Environmental Sustainability (PCES), the Steering Committee of the Center for Sustainability Education (CSE), and committees to plan new and renovated LEED certified buildings.