Getting Back to Eco-U

The University of Wisconsin – Green Bay’s campus sits isolated from the city it calls home – surrounded by a vast network of trees that make up the campus’ arboretum.  This setting is no accident, as from the very beginning, UWGB has strived to be “green” in more ways than one.

Since it opened its doors in 1965, the university has held the nickname “Eco U” because of its efforts towards environmental friendliness, according to the university’s sustainability website.

And while UWGB continues to receive national recognition for its efforts, it is failing to effectively communicate and engage with its students who aren’t already inclined to participate in sustainable practices. 

One of the major sustainability focuses for the university is recycling.  The abundance of well-advertised recycling bins, with complete descriptions of what should and shouldn’t be recycled, has made it convenient for students to recycle no matter where they are on campus.  But the Student Government Association’s Environmental Affairs Committee chair, Anthony Sirianni, JR’s recalls a classroom demonstration that suggests the university’s sustainability mission might not be getting through to its students.

“Georjeanna Wilson, a statistics professor, instead of using raw numbers, she went out in the hallway and grabbed a recycling bin and dumped it on the table and they counted what was supposed to be in there and what was not supposed to be in there… They realized that there was a large percentage of stuff that shouldn’t have been in there and when looking in the garbage can, there was a lot of stuff that could have been recycled,” said Sirianni.

It would be difficult to determine every UWGB student’s practices in sustainability and their reasoning behind their practices (or lack thereof), but SGA President Vanya Koepke believes it comes down to lack of education on what is and isn’t considered environmentally-friendly living.

“If students are not aware of what sustainability is, they may be thinking recycling but it’s so much more than that – measuring how much time you take in the shower, turning the lights off when they leave, composting - once students are educated…that’s when they can understand better what sustainability is, otherwise it may just be a word to them,” said Koepke.

Educating students on how and why to practice sustainable living is an important first step towards linking UWGB’s students with its “Eco U” mission.  The next step needs to be increasing students awareness of activities and projects in order to increase participation.

"It’s hard for me to speak since I’m around people with the same ideas as me… but for example, when we surveyed students on the Eco U part, overwhelming the freshman course, they didn’t know over half the questions we asked them, which were basically are you aware of the environmental organizations on campus… of all the things we do on campus to be sustainable.  They weren’t aware of half of it,” said Sirianni.

For the students’ part, this lack of awareness may have something to do with finding this information easily online.  In the age of the Internet, if information can’t be found quickly, it probably won’t be found at all.  The various organizations and sustainability websites are not linked, not easily found, and often have outdated or missing information.

For example, if a student was interested in seeing the minutes from the last Environmental Affairs meeting, looking on the EA’s page on the UWGB SGA website wouldn’t help them, the most recent minutes are from 2012.  Their Facebook page is no better, with the most recent minutes post from 2011 – and that link doesn’t even work.

If UWGB wants to continue its goal of sustainability, it needs to do a better job of getting its students to have the same goal.  Whether its lack of education or lack of communication, UWGB students just aren’t on the same page of environmental friendliness as their university is.

Too long? Other plans that day? Just don't want to? What are the reasons students choose NOT to attend the commencement ceremony

It’s a moment that most college students dream about; putting the final touches to their last paper, finishing up the last part of their final presentation, and answering the last couple questions on their final exam. Then, once all the stress from school work is gone, it’s time to walk across that stage, shake your chancellor’s hand, and get your diploma. You did it. You have graduated college. All of the hard work that you have put in the last four, five, maybe six plus, years has finally came to fruition. For some students, that journey does not end by walking across the stage to receive their diploma. Why?

To find out why such students choose to not attend the pinnacle of most college student’s careers, I talked to Jan Snyder, University Services Program Associate and the Chairperson of the University Staff Committee. She said that as of April 30, 930 students applied for graduation at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB). Out of those 930 students, only 707 of them signed up to participate in commencement ceremony. Due to confidentiality reasons, the names of the students who are not attending were not able to be shown.

Justin Grones, UWGB graduation class of 2014, chose not to attend the commencement ceremony last year, and he says now that it is something that he truly regrets. “I didn't walk because I knew I was going to the law enforcement academy, and knew I'd be walking at that graduation. I kind of treated my time at UWGB as a "stepping stone" and didn't make it as big of a deal as I should have. When I was at my wife's graduation in December it totally made me regret not walking.”

Brent Haack, a member of the UWGB graduating class of 2016, says that he also plans not to attend the commencement ceremony next spring either. “I run my own landscaping and lawn care business, and early springtime like that is when I am the busiest. I cannot afford to miss out on a day of work to sit through a boring, three hour long ceremony. I’m proud of my accomplishment, but to me it just doesn’t seem worth it,” said Haack.

Snyder says the reasons from students for not coming to the commencement ceremony varies from student to student. She said the more common reasons include online students who don’t live in the Green Bay area aren’t always willing to make the trip for a long ceremony like that, students making other prior commitments such as weddings, vacations, etc. and some students are uncomfortable going on stage in front of a large audience. The reasons go on from those, but each student has their own special reason why they choose to not walk across that stage during the commencement ceremony.

On the other side of the coin, there are many students who do walk across the stage at commencement and are very passionate about their decision. Most students do it because they want to show off all their hard word they put in over the past four to five years. Micaella Schneider, UWGB class of 2015 graduate said “I am walking for the ceremony because only 1% of the world's population get a college degree and I am honored to have earned that.” Kaitlyn Bouvette, another member of the UWGB class of 2015 added to that saying “I'm walking because I earned it and the people in my life want to see what I've accomplished.” For other students, it’s a matter of life or death. “I worked my a** off for 4 years so I wouldn't miss walking across the stage. And my mom would kill me if I didn't,” says Laura Maslanka, another member of the UWGB class of 2015.

All kidding aside, it is a proud moment for every student in the Kress Events Center on that Saturday afternoon. Having their families there, taking pictures, spending some time together with each other after the ceremony, it’s a great time for everyone in your family. It only seems fair that for the many hours upon hours of work you have put into each one of your projects or papers, that you would have to spend just a few more hours waiting to get your diploma.