Here we are – four years after starting school and two years after starting the Office of Sustainability. My name is Rachael Ruggiero and I am a graduating intern at the OS. There’s been so much that has happened in my time here and I don’t know if I can fit it onto one post, however, I’m going to give it a try.

I started at the Office of Sustainability not knowing much about what the office does on campus. I think some of my connections across campus helped me get the job. I was about to become president of the Residence Hall Association on campus, and I had a leadership position in my sorority, Delta Zeta. These other clubs that I am involved in helped shape the programs and events I worked on in the office.

Starting from day one I was nervous to see what the work environment would be. I also ended up being one of the new hires who couldn’t login and get started right away, you know, because there is always one. However, despite this, I feel like I was really able to hit the ground running, especially in the EcoCaptain Intern program. At the time of my hire, it was a new paid program, a collaboration between ResLife and our office. From my work with RHA, it was easy to understand how the EcoCaptain Interns could work with other ResLife officials and clubs in their area to make a difference. In the two years I worked with the program, it has grown so much. We are able to better understand what we want from our EcoCaptain Interns and vice versa. This means that when they start in the fall their transition is much quicker and we’ve been able to get to know the EcoCaptain Interns on a different level and better integrate them into the office.

Another project which has taken up a significant time at the office is working on communications. I worked a lot with the communications team thinking of new ways to give the office a brand that could continue even after I graduate. I think working on the communication team has been one of my biggest accomplishments at the office. Working with the other awesome team members, we now have a “brand” we can be confident in. It was important to me that the office create promotional material that I think I would want to see if I were scrolling on Instagram, and now in the future I’ll be excited to see what office is bringing to campus from a promotional standpoint. The office also brought in our staff Communication, Outreach, and Education Coordinator, Betsy Mortensen, in Spring 2022. She has been instrumental in getting new projects and ideas started.

My other jobs at the office surround helping with events such as the Haunted HEEP, Green Game Days, Earth Day Spring Fling, and more. I love working with all of the interns, past and present. The office has afforded me insight in how the University manages sustainability and has created connections for me that I’ll never take for granted. I was particularly lucky to sit on the search committee for the Director of the OS. That opportunity gave me some of the most valuable information for my own job searches in the future, even though I was sitting in the interviews instead of being interviewed. I would have never had that opportunity without working at the OS and now I feel like I’ve helped make a long lasting change here. I am also very excited to see the work Joe Fullerton will be doing in the future!

Lastly I just wanted to thank everyone I’ve worked with in the office these past two years, my boss, Patrick McKee, the amazing interns who graduated last year, Hope, Maizey, and Lauren, had taught me so much before they left and I wouldn’t be anywhere without them. The interns hired this year Amogh, Lilly, Sydney, Amanda, Allie and Leo have shown me that the office really can do anything, with all of their amazing ideas. I am also grateful for them because while there were so many projects our office is still working on, and I know we’re leaving everything in their very capable hands. I also want to thank the seniors graduating with me, Maggie, Erin, Chase, and Sam. I would be nowhere without them and they have become some of my greatest friends. I’ll never forget the impact that the Office of Sustainability had on my undergraduate career and hope to carry those lessons going forward.

Sustainability’s Community at UConn

Starting my internship in the Fall of 2021, I remember feeling so isolated. After a year online in which no friends were present and no clubs were active, I came back to a community that I felt estranged from. I walked to the Office of Sustainability on a sweltering summer day and the sweat on my palms wasn’t from the heat (if you catch my drift). I entered feeling so unsure and nervous if I belonged and Cherie Taylor, our Administrative Coordinator, turned to me from her window and said “Sam! I’m so glad you’re here with us!” No words ever impacted me like those. My trepidation evaporated with my sweat.

My time at the OS showed me what a sustainable and kind world looks like. Sustainability can be a difficult community to enter. If statistics and research has taught Gen-Z anything it’s that the climate crisis is immense and action needs to occur immediately and effectively. And I think we tend to act with righteousness with our actions. How can anyone speak up and feel welcome under such conditions? I have felt unwelcome and isolated personally in rooms with other environmental students (and I consider myself someone who knows a thing or two about sustainability at UConn).

But as I write this, I encourage you to beware of this single story. While there are certainly people here who will make you feel small and gaslight you into thinking you’re not sufficient, the staff and students at the Office of Sustainability are anything but. We have a small staff, three full-time staff members (one of which was only hired a month ago) and 1 part-time employee. Betsy, Patrick, and Cherie have kept the OS running without a director for the last two years. They are overwhelmingly kind, supportive and knowledgeable. Beyond being supportive of the interns and EcoCaptains, I have seen them aid other staff and faculty across the university in addition to the large numbers of students that approach the office. Never once have they made me feel like I was not enough. They are role models that I hope to emulate when I enter the “real world.”

Working on a team of likewise amazing interns has also been life changing. During my time at the Office of Sustainability, I have collaborated with the other interns on a number of projects including the submission of UConn’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory, UConn’s 6th & 7th Bee Campus USA Certification, UConn’s 9th & 10th Tree Campus USA Certification, Haunted HEEP & EDSF, AASHE STARS, EcoMadness, RecycleThon, etc. The other interns provide fresh perspectives and are always immensely passionate and helpful. It’s these people that make me feel hopeful for the future.

Beyond the OS, I have found other sustainability-oriented professionals across the university to be immensely passionate and helpful. Through my variety of projects, I had the opportunity to collaborate with a number of professionals ranging from Katie Milardo in Facilities Operations to Eileen McHugh in Planning & Design. I think this was the real driver of my change and growth in undergraduate. You learn many important skills such as professional communication and while these are important, I think what most influenced me was the second-hand passion that I received from these people. There are a number of people across UConn that work on the sustainability of our school and they go above and beyond for student interns at the OS – that’s why I named Eileen and Katie particularly.

Leaving UConn won’t be easy. I have roots here and to a degree graduation feels like someone is pulling me out like a weed. But my experience at the OS has prepared me to be transplanted at the University of Michigan and succeed. I think in grad school I want to be more intentional and appreciative of where I am – I have deep gratitude for my time at UConn and the OS and I hope to cultivate a community like the one I have interacted with here. As Mariah Carey once said, “Why ruin the journey by watching the clock and the ticking away of years?”

For the past two years, sustainability at UConn has taken the backseat. But it’s not for a lack of trying on behalf of the Office of Sustainability (OS).  Fall 2021-Spring 2022 was the school year of remembering –, remembering how to take in-person tests, remembering how to act in a crowd, remembering how to order at the One Plate, Two Plate register, and for the OS, remembering how to persuade UConn administration to endorse sustainable policies. The last being the most difficult in a post-pandemic world. This past school year, Fall 2022-Spring 2023, was a year of progress. Next year, I hope campus continues off that forward momentum, furthering UConn’s sustainable agenda and reducing our footprint. For these last two years, as a Student Intern at UConn’s Office of Sustainability I have had the incredible opportunity to work with many UConn Departments and sit in on countless meetings being able to see how far the school has come, and how far we will continue to go.

If my time at the OS has taught me one thing, it’s that sustainability is everywhere. Before working at the OS, my knowledge of sustainability transitioned from just knowing the definition of the word from a textbook, to seeing it implemented at the municipal level from my time at SustainableCT. Now, I can say that the OS has successfully shaped my understanding of sustainability showing me how it is centered in collaboration, equity, education, and passion. Through my time at the OS I honed my professional skills, learned new competencies, and gained experience I wouldn’t have anywhere else on campus. I worked on surveys such as Greenhouse Gas Inventory, Greenmetric UI, and AASHE STARS, helped lead events such as Green Game Days, Haunted HEEP, and Earth Day Spring Fling. The most important piece of advice I can give to new OS interns and the greater community is that enthusiasm and dedication to a cause goes a long way. Like any job in communications, you are going to be faced with rejection. Sometimes people won’t answer, sometimes people will shoot down your ideas; however, it is important to remember to treat these only as obstacles and not as dead ends. If you are passionate about something, you will find a way to get it done (and sidenote, it doesn’t hurt to ask for help.) I am grateful that not only was my internship a great work experience, but it also helped me find life-long friends that share similar interests. I can confidently say that my fellow interns will make a lasting impact on the world.

Next year, I will be a graduate student at Boston University pursuing a Master’s in Public Health in the field of Environmental Health. This program tackles issues focused on the relationships between people and their environmental including reducing environmental hazards, understanding environmental impacts on health, and critically analyzing increased environmental risk in areas burdened by social inequalities. My internship at the OS helped me narrow down my focus to environmental health and it taught me that the impacts of how we treat the environment are all around us. I am extremely grateful for the hands-on experience I was able to gain through my internship with the OS. I was able to work on a variety of projects spanning creative design, data analysis, environmental policy, and campus-wide events. Exposure to a wide variety of subjects helped me understand focus areas I excel in and ones I want to improve in.

If you are considering applying to the OS, whether for an intern position or as eco-captain, my suggestion would be to absolutely send in an application. The OS shaped my time at UConn and helped me find the path I want to embark on. The future of UConn’s sustainability is bright, especially in the hands of the OS. Thank you to the entire OS team including current and past interns, administrators, and all of the people I met along the way.