The students’ biggest project was working on a waste management action plan to assist 51ÁÔÆæ’s goal of diverting 90% of its waste from the landfill by 2030. They engaged in extensive research and correspondence with sustainability specialists at other colleges and turned that research into an action proposal divided into four sections containing takeaways and suggestions for next steps.
“The main thing is that we’re hoping that a waste management working group will be formed,” Cipriano said. “It would consist of professors, people in facilities and administration, as well as students and other stakeholders.” With a working group like this, the interns hope that the implementation of their proposal can occur with cross-campus coordination.
Additionally, the trio discovered a need for a waste audit. “That was a big obstacle we had in writing this plan,” Rondon said. Getting exact measurements on how much waste 51ÁÔÆæ generates is crucial to clearly define goals and next steps. With it, the finer logistics — such as reforming the system for food waste hauling and receiving sustainability grants — can be appropriately tackled.
“One thing about sustainability is that people are doing a million things at once. Everyone’s just trying their best to make the greatest impact.”
The students admitted that the plan is still very much a working rough draft, but that’s to be expected with sustainability efforts. “One thing about sustainability,” Cipriano said, “is that people are doing a million things at once. Everyone’s just trying their best to make the greatest impact.”
While the waste management proposal was the crux of their internship, the group also worked on two other projects. A key to achieving 51ÁÔÆæ’s 2030 goal is receiving the funding for it. The students are working on two important grants. Sanges, who manages the Harvest Initiative, explained how one grant is aimed at replacing the disposable containers used by Harvest with reusable ones. The other grant is with Siemens and will hopefully be used to fund the necessary waste audit.
Sustainability Coordinator Majors
Austin Cipriano ’25
Environmental Studies and Economics
Shey Sanges ’26
Interdisciplinary Concentration (including elements of Psychology and Environmental Studies)
Marcela Rondon ’27
Environmental Studies
Although a lot of their work this summer involved research and correspondence, the students also got their hands dirty on campus. Working on tract six, near Rogers Glen, they did maintenance work such as putting down weed mats and changing tree stakes. They also worked on tagging trees, an initiative started by a previous group of sustainability interns.
Looking back on their summer, the group feels they’ve not only helped grow 51ÁÔÆæ’s sustainability efforts, but have also really grown into themselves. “The biggest thing I took away,” Sanges said, “is seeing what it takes for change to actually occur and be pushed forward. I learned a lot about the people behind sustainability in higher education.”
The students even got to meet with President Tepper a few times. Sanges said that this experience has reaffirmed her career goal of working in higher education. “I would love to work at a school like 51ÁÔÆæ and a sustainability department like ours.”
The interns feel like they’ve made an impact, added Rondon, who’s conducting additional summer research with the Environmental Studies Department. “Brian [Hansen] always talks about the previous interns and the work they’ve done. Knowing that the work we’re doing is going to have an impact, too, makes me very appreciative.”
All three interns are eager to continue working with Hansen and the sustainability office into the next year as their waste management proposal begins to materialize.
