By Emily Alkire
11.9.19
It’s a brisk, fall morning when Averi Cumings settles onto her couch and hands me a venti vanilla latte. She’s just finished her 5 a.m. shift at the Downtown Wheaton Starbucks where she works as a barista. Cumings, a senior majoring in applied health science, is the executive vice president (EVP) of the Campus Sustainability Committee (CSC) on Student Government (SG) this year, a position that enables her to provide education, policy and programming toward sustainable efforts on campus, such as streamlining campus recycling and decreasing plastic straw usage. The role is fairly new, with this being only its second year as an elected SG position. When asked why she wanted the position, Cumings said, “Students at Wheaton don’t really know what sustainability is and they don’t know how to engage with it. I want to give students that opportunity should they choose to pursue it.”
The CSC was created as part of a new wave of conservation efforts happening at Wheaton. Junior Leilani Lu shared her excitement for numerous sustainability initiatives that have yet to take hold at Wheaton. One of those initiatives is a sustainability certificate. Lu said the certificate “will give students who are not environmental science majors the opportunity to engage [in sustainability efforts].” In order to complete the certificate, students would spend two months at the Wheaton College Science Station in the Black Hills and complete environment-based courses on campus. This would provide them with a solid foundation for understanding how to best care for the environment. Professor of Environmental Science Chris Keil said that “potential projects [at the science station] include sustainable forest management, solar energy, restoration of native species in station meadows and sustainable water management practices.” The proposal for the certificate was submitted to the administration last month and is awaiting approval.
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