The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s annual conference took place in Spokane, Washington from October 27-29. Two interns from the Office of Sustainability, Cecilia Kane and Makenna Bridge, along with the Assistant Director of Sustainability, Pamela Gramlich, attended the conference, presenting on Colgate’s sustainability efforts and gaining valuable insights from the sustainability community. Here is a word from Makenna Bridge about her experience at AASHE:
“This past weekend I was able to attend the annual AASHE conference in Spokane, Washington as part of my internship with the Office of Sustainability. The acronym for the “Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education”, an organization that focuses on inspiring students and staff alike to “be effective change agents and drivers of sustainability innovation.”
The overall theme of the conference was “co-creating a sustainable economy,” with many sessions and poster presentations centering around a circular economy framework, where waste is eliminated and resources are continually reused and managed sustainably. Sessions over the five-day conference varied greatly in focus and scale, covering all realms of sustainability from how to start composting on your campus, to how to use an intersectional lens when addressing climate change. I presented a poster on the successes and challenges of collegiate farming, sharing my own experience working with the community garden. My friend and fellow intern, Cecilia Kane co-lead a session on peer-to-peer learning, using or S-Rep program as a case study for how to effectively manage a first-year sustainability group.
Overall, the AASHE conference was a blast! I traveled to the Pacific Northwest for the first time, met a lot of cool folks and returned to Colgate feeling reinvigorated and ready to make changes in my final year at Colgate!”