Environmental Fellows Projects
Main Activities
The Environmental Fellows currently have five main commitments, which are the bedrock for the program.
1) Greenhouse Gas Audit - As a charter member of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), Stetson University conducts annual assessments of our greenhouse gas emissions. The Environmental Fellows serve as a third party to calculate and report on our emissions. Our audits cover include utilities, travel, fertilizer use, refrigerants, and other Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. The final report is then submitted to the Environmental Working Group as a part of our Climate Action Plan to track, analyze, and improve our sustainability.
2) Environmental Working Group (EWG) - Comprised of faculty, staff, and students dedicated to improving the environmental sustainability of operations for all Stetson, this body is chaired by the Environmental Fellows. We set the agenda, take minutes, and facilitate meetings. The EWG meets at least twice per semester to foster communication across the many interested offices, disciplines, and programs.
3) Revolving Green Fund (RGF) - One of the primary duties of the Environmental Fellows is to manage a Revolving Green Fund (RGF) that generates $30,000 annually from a $5/semester student fee. The purpose of our RGF is to be a source of internal capital revenue to capitalize on long-term sustainability projects that generate measurable cost savings. The return on investments from these projects are then reinvested into the RGF to be used on future projects. The Environmental Fellows work with the campus leadership to create plans to allocate these funds.
4) Green Revolving Investments Tracking System (GRITS) - This software helps us to manage our Revolving Green Fund by planning, tracking, and sharing energy, financial, and carbon project data.
5) Campus Survey - Once a year, the Environmental Fellows release a survey decided to gain the student perspective on campus sustainability initiatives. The results help us to gauge which projects to invest the Revolving Green Fund into.
Archived Projects
Over the last decade, the Environmental Fellows have completed a variety of projects related to sustainability. In addition to the mandatory initiatives of the program, the Environmental Fellows are encouraged to pursue their own individual projects.
- Spring 2024: Reduce Our Carbon Footprint - Collaborated with AmeriCorps VISTA on a campaign to help educate students on attainable actions to reduce Stetson's carbon footprint. Fellow involved: Phoenix Medley
- Fall 2021: Stetson Cycles - The bicycle program aims to decrease carbon emissions from student motor vehicles by encouraging students to bike around campus and the downtown area rather than rely on cars. The bikes can be borrowed for two-week or semesterly periods. Students who own their own bikes are encouraged to visit the Gillespie Annex if they want some maintenance done on their bike. These bikes are gathered from those left behind by students over the Summer who have either forgotten their bike or just did not want it anymore. Fellows involved: Natalie Bergeron and Jacob Robinson
- Spring 2022: GRITS - After gaining access to this software, we learned how to manage our Revolving Green Fund by tracking our return on investments from current projects. Fellow involved: Audrey Berlie
- Fall 2020: Billion Dollar Green Challenge - Wrote a proposal to join the Billion Dollar Green Challenge, which requires that members maintain a green revolving fund, form a multi-stakeholder working group, complete an annual energy audit. After becoming the first Florida organization accepted into this program, we received free access to the GRITS software. Fellows involved: Jay Stearman and Audrey Berlie
- Fall 2018-2019: Carbon Offsets Audit - By utilizing an online mapping software promoted by the Florida Forestry Service, a carbon offsets audit of Stetson University's DeLand campus has been compiled. This process included designing the study to encompass Stetson's many properties in DeLand, collecting and analyzing the data, and creating a report to convey the environmental value of our tree canopy to school administration (how much carbon is sequestered in the trees on campus). This research will be incorporated into the yearly Greenhouse Gas Audits. Fellow involved: Matinicus Csenger.
- Spring 2018: Tree Planting Project - Organized a tree planting event for Arbor Day 2018 utilizing 80+ free trees from DeLand's annual giveaway. This was the largest tree-planting in Stetson's history with help from the Florida Forestry Service, the City of DeLand, the outstanding crew from Stetson's Facilities Management, and 20+ student volunteers. The goal is for these trees to shade future generations of Hatters and inspire them to make a lasting impact on campus sustainability. Fellows involved: Nathan Bodger and Matinicus Csenger.
- Spring 2017: Carbon Fee and Dividend Letters - Encouraged students to fight climate change by signing a template letter to their members of Congress supporting the Citizen's Climate Lobby Carbon Fee and Dividend Plan. Fellows involved: Sarah Coffey and Allison Terry.
- Spring 2016-2018: Revolving Green Fund - Started a revolving green fund at Stetson University. A survey was created to assess student interest, involvement and habits regarding sustainability. There were 156 students from 32 majors took the survey. Based on this survey, a proposal was written for the implementation of the Revolving Green Fund to ensure money would be dedicated each year to pursue environmentally responsible projects. This proposal went to SGA who wanted various amendments made and a larger survey to be done. All amendments were completed, including ensuring transparency and student sovereignty over the fund, and an online survey that reached over 300 students was designed. This proposal passed the SGA without a single vote against it and was approved by the Board of Trustees in 2018. The funds were used to support the 2019 solar panel installation on the roof of the new CUB and with more influential projects following in the future. Fellow involved: Nathan Bodger.
- Fall 2016: Amendment One “Blocks the Sun” Programming - A cultural credit event panel discussion was created to discuss the proposed Amendment One. Informational and eye-catching handouts about Amendment One were created, and a table was set up at Stetson and Artisan Alley in downtown DeLand to hand out the flyers and raise awareness about the truth behind Amendment One. This was a great success because Amendment One was defeated! Fellows involved: Sarah Coffey, Nathan Bodger, and Allison Terry.
- Spring 2015, 2016: Energy Competitions in Dorms - A semester-long competition between all the dorms. This involved tracking and calculating energy usage for all participants by residential hall. The winners earned a free meal from Chick-fil-A. Fellow involved: Sarah Coffey.
- Fall 2014-present: Greenhouse Gas Audits - The Fellows have calculated the greenhouse gas emissions for Stetson University's campus for the following fiscal years: 2013, 2015, and 2016-18, 2020, and 2021. They have also written reports and presented the materials to the administration and the Stetson community.
- Spring 2017: Bottle Filling Station Proposal - Proposal for more bottle fill stations to be put in high-traffic areas on campus that do not currently have one. These stations have filters on them, which makes students more comfortable with drinking the local water instead of buying bottled water (which takes more water to produce than each bottle contains). Al Allen agreed to put four new bottle fill stations on campus over the summer of 2017. Fellow involved: Allison Terry.
- Fall 2016-2018: Food Forum - Participants including students, faculty, and staff of Stetson met in a sustainable food group led by Lua Hancock where they brainstormed ways to improve the sustainability of food operations and the dining experience at the university. After this, they branched off into different sections to help the cause of sustainable food at Stetson. Fellows involved: Sarah Coffey and Allison Terry.
- Fall 2016: Food Waste Group - Acted as co-chair with Senior Director of Dining Services, Barbara Stolz, of the group to reduce food waste. They worked on improving behaviors as well as implementing technical solutions to the problem of food waste. Fellow involved: Sarah Coffey.
- Spring 2016: Food Waste Campaign - Worked on a Reduce Food Waste Campaign where signage was created to raise awareness of the impact of throwing away food and the Fellows spoke with employees of Chartwells. Fellows involved: Sarah Coffey and Nathan Bodger.
- Fall 2014: Zero-Waste Dining Proposal - Three different technological solutions for reducing food waste at Stetson were proposed. As a result, the university decided to implement a pulper in the new Commons dining space in the CUB Fall 2018, which could one day be used to turn food waste into compost and used as a soil additive that will reduce the need for fossil-fuel-intensive fertilizer on campus. Fellow involved: Sarah Coffey.
- Fall 2022: Clothing Recycling - Working with Residential Living & Learning to develop a system to recycle student clothes left behind on campus. Fellows involved: Audrey Berlie and Mackenzie Powers
- Spring 2019: Greek Recycling - Additional recycling bins were placed in upstairs of fraternity house A to encourage recycling within the Greek community. By the end of the 2019 spring semester, the goal is to have these bins placed in the upstairs of all Greek housing to encourage the recycling of aluminum cans. Fellows involved: Nathan Bodger and Matinicus Csenger.
- Fall 2015: America Recycles Day - Worked with the on-campus recycling student employee group, supervised by Dale Peterson, to set up an event which was designed to raise awareness about the need to recycle, and what exactly can be recycled. The event was very successful and well attended. Fellow involved: Nathan Bodger.
- Fall 2015: Recycling with On-Campus Vendors - Stetson University has two outside food vendors that operate on campus. There was previously no recycling in the building which these vendors used, causing a lot of unnecessary waste. The kind of waste created by these vendors was unique on campus because of their sale of packaged fast food. For this reason, specific recycling signage had to be used to accommodate the waste. The custom recycling signage was developed and implemented, dramatically cutting down on waste thrown into the rubbish. Fellow involved: Nathan Bodger.
- Fall 2014: Recycling Campaign - Led a week-long campaign to raise awareness of the importance of recycling on campus, electronics in particular, and had a cultural credit event on "The Story of Stuff" with Dr. Evans. Put an article on Stetson Today about the Stetson Scrappers and had students sign a "recycling pledge" in front of the CUB throughout the week. Fellow involved: Sarah Coffey.
- Spring 2024: Reduce Our Carbon Footprint - Collaborated with AmeriCorps VISTA on a campaign to help educate students on attainable actions to reduce Stetson's carbon footprint. Fellow involved: Phoenix Medley
- Spring 2023: STEAM Event - Hosted a table at the STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics) event in partnership with the Gillespie Museum. Our table educated families on the geological history of Florida that created the endemic sandhill ecosystem. Fellow involved: Audrey Berlie
- Spring 2023: Aquatic Center Mural - Working with the Sandra Stetson Aquatic Center to install an 8’ x 25’ mural at one of the outdoor facilities to provide a more complete historical perspective to the space through artistic elements. It features the Native American heritage in the Volusia Country area, William Bartram’s encounter with a tornado on Lake Beresford, and the native flora and fauna of Florida. Fellows involved: Audrey Berlie
- Fall 2022: Values Day Events - Planned and executed two community events that aimed to educate the public about how they could take environmental action in their communities. The first was a tree planting event that allowed students to plant 8 trees in the retention pond on the corner of Amelia and Wisconsin Avenue. The second was a workshop that helped the student to explore different ways to invest in the Revolving Green Fund in the community. Fellows involved: Audrey Berlie, Jacob Robinson, Sugeeth Sathish, and Mackenzie Powers.
- Fall 2020-2021: Biodiversity Lectures - Hosted by the Environmental Law Department at the Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida, we helped to market these Biodiversity Lectures to students in the DeLand Campus through adverting and making the virtual event a cultural credit. Fellow involved: Audrey Berlie
- Spring 2018-2019: Environmental Web Portal – Allison Terry trained and became certified by university Marketing staff on how to make websites using WebGarage in order to create a Stetson web page that combines all of Stetson's sustainable activities and information and present it in one place. This site will continuously need to be updated to keep up-to-date information about Stetson's past and ongoing environmental initiatives, but currently it has information and links to relevant pages including environmental clubs, news, events, senior research projects, national recognition, sustainable dining, the Gillespie Museum, and the Spring Hill community garden. Fellow involved: Allison Terry.
- Spring 2018: Landscaping Assessment and Report - According to a joint survey designed by Nathan Bodger and the SGA, Stetson students were very concerned about the environmental impact of landscaping on campus. Because of this he conducted research on the amount and type of chemicals used for landscaping at Stetson and wrote an article for the Stetson newspaper to communicate the findings.
- Spring 2017: Hatter Harvest Cress Fundraiser Event – Planned, advertised, and executed a fundraiser event at Stetson that included a 5-course gourmet meal (made from local, sustainable food sources), the watching of Food Chains, and a panel discussion that aimed to increase awareness and knowledge of the farming industry and the role local agriculture plays in the health of its community. The event raised approximately $500 in cash and check donations for Hatter Harvest, the garden club on campus. These proceeds were invested into Hatter Harvest to help stabilize the future growth and sustainability of the campus garden, organization, and good food movement at Stetson University and the DeLand community. Fellows involved: Sarah Coffey and Allison Terry.
- Spring 2017: Keep Stetson Sustainable - The Fellows professionally recorded short video skits around campus that discuss quick tips to students about how they can have a sustainable lifestyle.
- Spring 2017: Sustainability Tabling - Tabled on the Stetson campus to inform students about how they can be more sustainable in their everyday lives and how that can make a positive impact on the environment. Fellow involved: Allison Terry.
- Spring 2017: Wild Utah: America's Redrock Wilderness - Organized for Travis Hammill and Allahandro Bradford of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance to present at Stetson University (for a cultural credit) about the importance and protection of Utah's red rock wilderness. Fellow involved: Allison Terry.
- Fall 2017-2019: Sustainability House On-Campus – Proposed a sustainability-themed residential experience for students in which case the students who live in the house participate in year-long environmental projects at the house. Sarah Coffey and Allison Terry were each the house manager for a year. The projects at the house while they were residents included creating sustainable food systems through hydroponic and organic gardening as well as bokashi and vermicomposting.
- Spring 2016-2018: Earth Day Festival - Organized an Earth Day Fair with a range of participants and activities, including students from Dr. Watt's environmental communications class, Project H2O, Green Volusia, Stetson Recycles, Cleo Koenig's Environmental Art, the Gillespie Museum, the Seed Library, the Stetson Beekeeping Club, the Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience, the Stetson Environmental Club, Hatter Harvest, sustainable local food vendors, Stetson seniors who did their senior projects on aspects of environmental sustainability, and a book drive called Books for Africa. There were four hours of live musical performances from Stetson students. Fellows involved: Sarah Coffey and Allison Terry.
- Fall 2016-2018: Boys and Girls Club Garden - The Fellows regularly visited with the Lacey Family Boys and Girls Club to help them with their garden and to provide environmental education opportunities (such as teaching them about pollination).
- Spring 2016: Environmental Column - Wrote a series of articles in the Stetson Reporter about the importance of environmental sustainability initiatives to the global future. Fellow involved: Nathan Bodger.
- Fall 2016: International Coastal Cleanup - Organized the event by working with Stetson's Circle K International (CKI) to make it a cultural credit event and helped inform the Stetson community about the volunteer opportunity. Compiled discussion questions and created brochures containing information on the impacts of pollution on marine ecosystems to discuss during the event. Fellows involved: Sarah Coffey and Allison Terry.
- Fall 2016: IB Lecture at DeLand High School - Nathan Bodger gave two lectures at Deland High School to senior IB biology students. He lectured and facilitated discussion for two 50-minute periods. The lecture was about the issue of deforestation in Central America, with particular relevance to his work in Guatemala. The discussion brought in the medical, philosophical, political and moral implications of this issue. He also tried to give students insight into how they can do environmental work while they are in university to help their community and build their resumes.
- Spring 2015-2016: Environmental Forums - Presented on the 2013 Greenhouse Gas Audit at an Earth Day Environmental Forum in April 2015. Planned an Environmental Forum in April 2016 and hosted Christ Castro, the Director of Sustainability for the City of Orlando. He discussed his role in making Orlando one of the most sustainable cities, as well as his non-profit, “Ideas for Us”. Fellow involved: Sarah Coffey.
- Spring 2015: DeLeon Springs State Park - Every Monday for the entire semester, a few students were taken to DeLeon Springs State Park to do certain conservation projects and work with the park rangers. Some of these projects include hydrilla removal, coral Ardisia removal, picking up trash and trail maintenance. Fellow involved: Sarah Coffey.
- Fall 2014-2016: Environmental Films and Discussion - Organized and led cultural credit events on environmental films like Gasland and Cowspiracy. Also organized a forum on the SoCal Gas Leak. Fellow involved: Sarah Coffey.
- Fall 2014-2018: Center for Community Engagement Days of Service - Organized or facilitated over 10 official days of service with the Stetson Center for Community Engagement including the following: Values Day 2014, Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service 2015, Stetson Service Day 2015, Values Day 2015, Friends and Family Day of Service 2015, and Doug Lee Day of Service 2016, Values Day 2016, Values Day 2017, and Values Day 2018. Fellows involved: Sarah Coffey, Nathan Bodger, and Allison Terry.
