When we announced that we were hosting our first-ever kick-off event for Sustainovation on campus, we had no idea what to expect. Would the students be interested? Would they show up? Imagine our surprise when 70+ students packed the lower level of the Student Union Building to hear about sustainability at Penn State University, to learn about our Sustainovation Team projects, and to meet our community partners.

Faculty members of the Sustainovation Team (Guertin, Theveny, Esparragoza) all spoke about our collaborations across the campus with courses and clubs, and then passed the microphone to our guests from Tyler Arboretum and Ridley Creek State Park to speak about the importance of sustainability and working with Penn State.

This fall, we will be completing our Tyler Arboretum Sustainability Research Station event at Tyler’s Pumpkin Days during the weekend of October 14-15. This project will be led by our student Sustainovation Club and the Engineering Club. Our Ridley Creek State Park tree identification tour and website/app development began back in the summer and will continue through the academic year. Student researchers and IST majors are collecting the tree information and developing the technology interface. Communications majors will be generating video documentaries for both projects.

Our third project for the fall is having students in an introductory-level Earth science course author short reads on sustainability for middle school and high school teachers and students. These stories will be shared through the Pennsylvania Earth Science Teachers Association, our third partner.

Our fourth partner, Media Food Bank, will be the focus of our spring semester, as we continue to work with Ridley Creek State Park.

The excitement from the students was evident on their faces and in their conversations as they consumed the pizza we provided. Students also completed a survey regarding their values and attitudes towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The same survey will be given to the students at the end of the semester, and aggregate data will be compared to see if our community collaborations has impacted our students.