Last week, Grand Valley State University celebrated its eighth Campus Leadership Week, sponsored by the Office of Student Life and Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society.

“This week is based on celebrating the students who are involved in campus leadership and celebrating the collective difference that each student makes at GVSU,” said Kate Tippett, Leadership Initiatives Staff Assistant.

The week featured 13 events spanning from Monday to Friday. including a visit from an Occupy Wall Street protester and several GVSU-related workshops.

_Sustainable Student Leader Workshop _

Grand Valley State University Campus Life sustainability and Student Life leadership came together to highlight a GVSU value while also celebrating Campus Leadership Week.

A sustainable community development initiative graduate assistant, Jenny Jordan, showed students what they would not get going on a regular tour of campus. Instead, this virtual tour showed off GVSU’s most sustainable characteristics, including the LEED gold-certified Kelly Family Sports Center.

Other sustainable projects on campus include rain gardens in Mackinac Hall and Niemeyer, cage-free eggs served by Campus Dining and compost bins available throughout campus.

GVSU is also participating in Recyclemania, a nationwide competition and currently working to compost pizza boxes that are not considered recyclable due to their grease.

“We call it ‘cutting environmental impact one pizza box at a time,’” Jordan said.

Jordan was teamed up with Kate DeGraaf, Laker Leadership Program graduate assistant.

“Sustainability is something I think is very important and valuable,” DeGraaf said. Although appreciative of sustainability, DeGraaf focused mainly on leadership and helping students become aware that they could play a part in GVSU’s sustainability. By becoming a leader and sharing the knowledge they learned with others, a larger group of students may participate more in the actions GVSU is already taking.

Teach for America alumni panel

Teach for American joined Grand Valley State University’s Campus Leadership Week as they showed students how they need leaders like them.

Teach for America seeks to end the inequality in education and raise the standard of living amongst underprivileged students.

“We are providing the kids who have arguably the greatest challenges and the biggest needs the world’s crappiest education,” said Stacey DeVrou, director of Michigan recruitment for Teach for America. “It’s criminal.”

Teach for America takes students with any bachelor’s degree, or professionals, and places them in a classroom for minimum of two years. In that time, participants run their classroom as they see fit.

Participants are placed in low-income schools and are paid the same salary that a teacher in that school district is paid.

Claire Kinziger, a Teach for America alumnus, said she chose her top three schools and was placed in her second choice.

“I’m very happy with how it worked out,” Kinziger said. “It opened up my eyes.”

Kinziger worked towards her master’s degree in education at the University of Texas during her tenure. She now works for Kalamazoo Public Schools teaching third grade.

Teach for America provides financial support to participants.

Applicants will need to have completed their bachelor’s degree by June 1 to apply for this year; the deadline to apply is Feb. 10. Formore information, contact GVSU recruiter Kelly Torigoe at kelly.torigoe@teachforamerica.org.

lakerlife@lanthorn.com