SUSTAINABLE LEADERS WORKSHOP RETURNS

By ELLIE PHILLIPS

Updated: November 25, 2012, 5:54 PM

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GVL / Amy Hammond
Jenny Jordan of the Sustainable Student Leader Workshop selling organic food under the Transformational Link.

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The Community Sustainability Initiative has partnered with Laker Leadership Programs, a department of the Office of Student Life, to bring back the Sustainable Student Leaders Workshop for yet another year.

“The Sustainable Student Leaders Workshop is a two-hour workshop designed to help participants better understand and utilize concepts of sustainability in their lives and student organizations,” according to the LLP website. “This workshop will focus on the Triple Bottom Line concept and how student leaders can use it to be socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable. Participants are encouraged to sign up with at least three to four other members of their student organization.”

This workshop was born out of a desire to encourage students to be leaders in sustainability, in their academic, professional and personal lives.

“The Office of Student Life and Laker Leadership Programs wanted to provide a short training experience for students to better understand what sustainability is and to emphasize its importance in their roles as leaders on campus and beyond,” said Valerie Jones, assistant director of Student Life Leadership & Service Initiatives. “Our hope was that student organization leaders and students who aspire to be leaders would attend the training and adapt the practices outlined in their personal lives and in their activities on campus. We also hoped to direct students to the Community Sustainability Initiative and the resources and opportunities that office provides.”

The workshop will involve interactive and reflective activities during which students will learn about the CSI and current sustainability practices on campus. They will also gain awareness of the Triple Bottom Line framework, which refers to ‘people, planet, profit’ or ‘the three pillars.’ The Triple Bottom Line framework is an accounting strategy that focuses on the three areas of sustainability: Social, environmental and financial. This includes ecological and social measures that are not found in more traditional approaches. The students will also examine how they can apply these principles and strategies into their own lives and student organizations.

Though this training is open to any member of the GVSU commu ers and registered student organizations.

“Our participants range from freshmen to graduate students, and also range in prior experience with sustainability practices and leadership development,” Jones said.

LLP offers a variety of leadership development experiences for GVSU students and student organizations, all based on concepts from the social change model of leadership development. These opportunities are core programs in leadership development that provide a solid foundation upon which students can build their leadership skills and endeavors on campus and in their own lives after graduation. GVSU students are welcome to participate in as many of the programs as they like and are invited to the various other leadership events and recognition initiatives offered by LLP.

Registration is now open online for the workshop, which will take place Nov. 28 from 3-5 p.m. in Kirkhof Center, room 2266. To register, visit http://www.gvsu.edu/leadership/the-sustainable-student-leader-workshop-56.htm

ephillips@lanthorn.com

Published November 25, 2012 News