{"id":221626,"date":"2023-08-22T14:15:44","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T18:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=221626"},"modified":"2023-09-05T15:54:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T19:54:12","slug":"greening-it-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2023\/08\/22\/greening-it-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Greening It Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sara Reper, a senior Sustainability Science major at Montclair State University, passed up an internship opportunity to do outdoor recreation planning in California this summer to participate in the 2023 PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies (ISS) Green Teams Program. \u201cI’m glad that I did Green Teams instead,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

A junior English major at Montclair, Emily Christian grew up \u201cwith a sustainability mindset\u201d near Atlantic City.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything we did in the area I grew up in affected the water, affected the plants, affected the beaches,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn’t know that there was a whole school of thought around sustainability until I received the email about the Institute. So that’s a really big reason why I got involved, because I feel very passionate about it. And I knew that I had skills to bring to the table that aren’t just about my major.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Montclair English major Emily Christian presents part of her team\u2019s project on water usage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As part of a five-member team, Christian worked on helping University Facilities on improving efficiencies in water usage and reducing waste when students move out of residence halls.<\/p>\n

Christian and Reper were among 50 students from 32 universities who participated in this summer\u2019s 10-week Green Teams internship program. Each year, PSEG ISS<\/a> brings together environmentally conscientious students and organizations to tackle pressing environmental challenges in the community. This year\u2019s students rose to the challenges with which they were presented.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PSEG ISS Green Teams interns met a higher bar this year to address the increasingly complex challenges corporations face to reach their climate and energy goals,\u201d says Amy Tuininga, director of the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies in the College of Science and Mathematics.<\/p>\n

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Amy Tuininga, director of the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies, (in blue) addresses the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Green Team Newark.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christian says she wasn\u2019t the only humanities major in the 50-member cohort but she was the only English major. \u201cI would 100% recommend it to anyone but I would say if you’re a humanities major, they need you,\u201d she says. \u201cIn order for anything to get done anywhere, you need to make a case for the money. Period. So, if you’re good at persuasive writing, if you’re good at persuasive speaking, if you are good at any type of writing or telling a story, your teammates need you because you’re the yin to their yang.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christian used her English expertise to help with writing and editing a script for a short video featuring Montclair pupscot Pebbles for the \u201cFill it Forward” initiative. She also did the voice-over for the video campaign.<\/p>\n