Ditch the Dumpster is Back!
Office of Sustainability

    Enhancing Educational Experiences within the Office of the Dean of the College

Ditch the Dumpster

Are you planning to study abroad, move out this winter or just want to donate some clothes? Ditch the Dumpster is back this semester, led by the Office of Sustainability in partnership with Residential Experience. It encourages students to donate their gently used items instead of throwing them away to encourage sustainable practices of reducing waste. Accepted items include clothing, hangers, unopened food, houseplants, outdoor gear, and small household/dorm items. The program runs from Dec. 15-19 at two collection sites, accessible 24/7: 

● Loomis Lounge 
● Hybl Community Center 

For more information, visit the Ditch the Dumpster webpage or email sustainability@coloradocollege.edu with any questions.

Emissions Travel Survey 

Can you believe that it is almost Winter Break? As many of us gear up to travel for the holidays, we invite all students, staff, and faculty to participate in the OOS’ annual Travel Survey! By giving just five minutes of your time to fill out the survey, you will help the Emissions Team understand transportation habits among students, staff, and faculty, guiding our alternative transportation projects to reduce emissions. As there are two different surveys, please make sure you select the appropriate survey, which closes on Dec. 8. To thank you for participating, you will be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card. Your contributions not only make our campus greener but also shape the future of sustainable commuting!
(Student Survey | Staff and Faculty Survey)

Recap of Sustainable Wednesday and Film Screening

The first Sustainable Wednesday of the year was a success! The Waste Team introduced themselves through fun games at Worner Campus Center. We hope you were able to stop by and get a small peek into what our office is working on! Please join us for the next Sustainable Wednesday on Dec. 13 from 12:15-1:15 p.m. hosted by the STARS Team, where they will be hosting a sustainability-related trivia activity and handing out donuts as prizes. 
On Nov. 4, the OOS hosted our first Sustainable Saturday Screening in collaboration with the Film and Media Studies Department by showing David Attenbourgh’s riveting documentary, A Life on Our Planet. Through up-close documentation of current environmental changes, Attenborough helped viewers witness the urgent need for sustainability. By providing a window into the future, he gave the audience a chance to reflect on their impact and what sustainability means to them. We hope you can join us for our next Sustainable Saturday Screening in Block 5! Look out for more information to come.  
Pictured above, left-right: Martina Hasler Arantes ’25, Alexa Rennie ’24, Jasmine Sone ’24 and Em Renetzky ’27

E-Waste Drop-Off

Do you have  electronic  waste  you want to dispose of? The CC Office of Sustainability has a solution for you! We are hosting an  E-Waste  Drop-Off  event as part of the  end-of-year Ditch the Dumpster  effort at  Breton Hall Garage on Thursday, Dec. 7 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.  If you are able to drop your items off, please refer to the map below to locate the Breton Hall Garages (the NW corner of parking lot C-1). Staff will be there to help you unload your items. If this drop-off is not possible for you,  please fill out this request form for a pick-up, and a representative will be in touch with you about your request within three business days. 

We recycle  electronic  waste, including items that are no longer working, unwanted, or at the end of their “life.” Acceptable and commonly recycled items include: TVs, monitors, keyboards, cables, appliances, digital media players, cellphones, and other items. Please note we cannot recycle alkaline batteries, which include most household batteries, like Duracell, Energizer, and others.  
 
*Please note that if your items are both college-issued AND contain a hard drive (laptops, computers, etc.), you must reach out to ITS for them to wipe this hard drive before recycling. Additionally, a pickup option is available ONLY for office/departmental requests. For any personal requests from CC community members, drop-off at the e-waste  garage is the only option. 

Meet the Communications Team 


We are thrilled to introduce our Communications Team for this academic year, consisting of three interns: Jacob McDougall ’24, Mahnoor Rehman ’24, and Haley Outwater ’26, alongside two dedicated volunteers, Molly Vance ’27 and Adeline Turner ’27. The team manages various modes of communications between our 0ffice and the broader CC community. They are responsible for the social media outlets, Worner dashboard, the blocky newsletter, and website management among other projects. The team continues to collaborate with other intern teams at the OOS to support their marketing campaigns for different programming initiatives.
McDougall enjoys promoting and advertising impactful projects as part of the team projects. Further, his most challenging yet rewarding project so far has been working on Ditch the Dumpster, a program led by the OOS. Outwater’s favorite aspect of the Communications Team is creating graphics for social media. She is currently exploring the use of GIS lab to craft a digital sustainability virtual tour map. Rehman brings three years of experience to the team and values the support received from her teammates, fellow interns, and supervisors. Her most challenging yet rewarding project so far has been Earth Week marketing. Let’s give a big thanks to our Communications Team for all their hard work! 

Pictured above, left-right: Jacob McDougall ’24, Mahnoor Rehman ’24, and Haley Outwater ’26

CC Exchange Books Available 


Do you need textbooks or have old textbooks you no longer use? Check out the CC Exchange’s book section. There you can find plenty of textbooks commonly required for CC classes on every subject matter from Chemistry to Journalism, Economics, World Languages, Environmental Science, and more. We also have a large selection of leisure books previously enjoyed and donated by your classmates. The best part? They’re free and you can borrow and return them or keep them for good! 

The CC Exchange is open Thursdays (1st-3rd week) from 2-4 p.m. in the basement of Worner, and donations are accepted during all open hours. We hope to see you there.

Holiday Sustainability Tips 

For this holiday season, we urge you to make sustainable choices that not only spread joy but also help the planet. Here are some easy tips offered by the OOS:  
  • Eco-Friendly Gift Wrapping: Choose reusable fabric or recycled paper for gift wrapping to reduce waste and make your presents as sustainable as they are thoughtful. 
  • Support Local Businesses: Opt for gifts from local artisans or businesses to minimize the environmental impact of shipping and promote community sustainability.
  • LED Lights Magic: Illuminate your holiday with energy-efficient LED lights, which not only last longer but also consume less energy compared to traditional bulbs, helping to lower your carbon footprint.
  • Reusable Gatherings: Minimize single-use plastics during holiday gatherings by using reusable dishes and utensils, making your celebrations not only festive but also environmentally friendly. 

Offset your Holiday Travel

Are you traveling or going home for Winter Break and want to offset your travel emissions? The OOS has an easy-to-use resource to help you reduce your carbon footprint over the holidays. Use the Travel Offset Calculator to compute your trip’s toll on the environment and then click to offset your emissions and counterbalance some of your travel impacts. The cost of offsets is far less than the cost of travel, but your investment greatly supports important climate initiatives!

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Today at CC Digest for Students

A Daily Digest for Colorado College

Today at CC Digest

A Daily Digest for Colorado College

Get Ready for Winter Commencement!
Winter Commencement, set for Sunday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m., is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate those students who complete their undergraduate studies prior to the May Commencement ceremony. This year’s event will take place in-person in Shove Memorial Chapel, and the ceremony will include remarks from President L. Song Richardson with a Commencement address from Steve Hayward, Professor and Director of the Journalism Institute.

Students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend and celebrate our winter graduates. No RSVP is required. Faculty members who would like to march in the ceremony should sign up no later than 5 p.m., December 14.

Regalia can be picked up at the Bookstore December 14-15 between 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

For questions or to request disability-related accommodations, please contact Brenda Soto via email (bsoto@coloradocollege.edu) or by phone at (719) 389-6265.
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Stories of Community Engagement this Fall

CCE Block 4 Newsletter

Table of Contents

Fall Highlights
Our new co-hort of Bonner Fellows
Community Engaged Learning with Educating Children of Color
K-12 Engagement
BreakOut Trips
Meet the CCE Intern Team
Ongoing Opportunities
Stay in the Loop 
Campus community,
Every block, Colorado College students, faculty, and staff engage in community work in Colorado Springs and beyond. This block, the CCE focuses our newsletter on storytelling, elevating some of the community engagement happening around us, in and alongside the classroom, through course collaborations, student organizations, internships and fellowships, and campus initiatives and projects. With 19 CCE student organizations, 37 Bonner Fellows, over 100 Community Engaged Scholars, and at least eight (and counting) community-engaged learning courses inspired by the CCE’s PEAK Project, we have no shortage of stories to tell.

Fall Highlights
Fall 2023 Bonner Fellowship Retreat at the CC Cabin

New Cohort of Bonner Fellows

In its seventh year at CC, the Bonner Fellowship welcomed 14 additional students, now totaling 37 Fellows! The Bonner Fellowship is a four-year, cohort-based, paid fellowship that seeks to provide developmental learning, community engagement, and community building to students who are committed to deep and sustained social change work. Our Bonners, after one year of exploration, commit to a community-based internship with one local community partner and work to build capacity within the organization through a culminating senior capstone project by the end of their time in the fellowship.  

This year, our Bonners will be working with 26 different community partners across various issue areas, from arts and media for social change to immigrant and refugee justice to environmental justice and many more! For example senior Bonner Misbah Lakhani ’24 has been working with their community partner, Inside Out Youth Services for the last three years assisting with the various projects and initiatives of the organization. In their senior year of the fellowship, Misbah is completing a Capstone Project that consists of developing lesson plans for the Inside Out programs team to educate LGBTQAI+ youth on various social justice topics, including feminist and trans justice. 

Community Engaged Learning 

In Block 2, students in Dr. Aaron Stoller’s Curriculum Theories class took what they learned and applied it to supporting the development of a real curriculum – “Diversity University II,” a multi-day workshop offered through local nonprofit Educating Children of Color (ECOC).  Diversity University II “aims to empower individuals to become catalysts for inclusive environments and equitable practices, fostering a more just society.”  Students used their knowledge from the class to offer suggestions for how to update and evolve this curriculum – suggestions that the founder of ECOC, Regina Walter, praised as “brilliant.”  
“Your project was absolutely amazing. This was scholar engagement at its finest. I am highly interested in working with you [again]…” 
Dr. Regina Lewis, Co-Facilitator, Diversity University II

This course culminated a partnership cultivated by the CCE’s PEAK Project (Publicly Engaged, Actionable Knowledge), which seeks to bridge campus knowledge to community impact by connecting CC educators to nonprofit and public partners for community-engaged learning classroom projects.  Here is what happened behind-the-scenes: ECOC submitted the idea for this classroom project late in the fall of 2022, which the CCE shared with faculty broadly through a Call for Interest, then in targeted ways to instructors of upcoming relevant courses.  Once we “matched” the project to a course, Dr. Aaron Stoller and Regina Walter co-created the classroom project together over the summer – with the support of a CCE CEL curriculum development grant!  
“It was a tremendous block and we learned so much from the experience…  I sincerely mean it when I say that this learning experience would not have been possible without your [ECOC’s] support and your partnership.”
Dr. Aaron Stoller, Instructor, Curriculum Theories

Faculty, learn more about community-engaged learning here. If you’re already teaching a CEL course, please let us know!  The CCE is working to revitalize a community-engaged learning course tag in Banner to have a better understanding of the scope of this pedagogy on campus (40 confirmed, 50+ expected). Read about the criteria for the tag here.  Students, check out upcoming CEL courses here. 

K-12 Engagement

Colorado College’s engagement with K-12 Education in the Pikes Peak Region spans work with youth-serving community partners, direct work in schools, and our college access programs. Following the recent local school board election, we are highlighting the ways in which our entire campus, CCE and beyond, engages with local school districts.

BreakOut Trips
BreakOut partnered with the following organizations this semester: The Marian House, Pueblo Nature & Wildlife Discovery Center, Partners in Housing, Concrete Couch, Flying Pig Farm, CC Farm, Sky High Ranch, Bemis School of Art and more!

Meet the CCE Intern Team

Ongoing Opportunities

Students
Explore These and More on the Student Hub

Faculty
Explore These and More on the Faculty Hub

Campus

Learn More About Our Work

Don’t miss out! 

We offer a number of ways for you to stay informed on issues and opportunities that align with your interests.

Sign up for the CCE Digest
Join an Issue Based Coalition Listserv
Join the Engaged Faculty Listserv
Subscribe to Campus Compact Newsletter

Join a Community Board or Commission

The City of Colorado Springs is frequently looking for engaged citizens to join boards and commissions. Consider contributing your time and talents to one of these boards or commissions. View openings here: https://coloradosprings.gov/boards

If you are interested in engaging in the local community and would like support getting started, please 
  • email us at cce@coloradocollege.edu
  • call us at (719) 389-7270
  • swing by the CCE House at 1008 N. Weber (East Campus)   

Best,  

Connect with us on social media!
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Support Our Local Youth

Dear campus educators, facilitators, and speakers,

The African American Youth Leadership Conference (AAYLC) seeks interested parties passionate about paying it forward and supporting our local youth and their village (those who make up their support system), to participate in the AAYLC annual conference, which will occur at CC on March 9, 2024. Those interested in presenting or facilitating a conference session would engage with attendees by creating an educationally rich and experientially interactive learning session. The sessions are conveniently scheduled to take place in the morning and afternoon. The theme for this year’s conference is You Only Fail When You Stop Trying. Attendees are eager to hear about and participate in discussions and workshops on various topics associated with this year’s theme. Please consider sharing your time, talent, and expertise with an organization that is making extraordinary strides throughout the state of Colorado.  
As the executive director of AAYLC, I can attest to the impact on our youths made  through opportunities like this. This event has created pathways to access education, community resources, and networking connections that will last a lifetime. For more information about how to get involved, please visit our website, or use this link to indicate your interest in being a presenter at our 2024 conference.
Hope to see you there, making a difference in the lives of our young people and the surrounding community. 
Kind regards, 

Dr. Ersaleen M. Hope
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Engaging Difference

Block 4 at Crown Center

Block 4 at Crown Center

Challenging Conversations & Bridge Building

The Crown Center for Teaching (CCT) is bringing together resources to help faculty, staff, and students engage difference in the classroom—and campus more broadly—in ways that respect individual identities, professional knowledge, and deeply held personal beliefs. The goal is not to take sides or change opinions, but rather to take seriously the things that matter to us most. Through that process we’ll build bridges that help us accomplish the common good to which we are all deeply committed.
 
Details on campus-wide programming will emerge between now and the start of the spring semester.  But for now, we would like to share with you a list of existing resources to help us continue to engage difficult conversations while respecting the mutable boundaries of our collective freedoms, including those of religion, speech, and academics. This is neither an exhaustive nor prescriptive list, but rather one we hope everyone will explore AND supplement.  Please share with us examples you’ve encountered.

Drop-in Hours
The only thing we love as much as teaching is talking about teaching. Is there something on your mind you’d like to talk about?  An assignment idea, a tricky classroom situation, a question about teaching, formed or unformed?

For the remainder of Block 4, from 1-3pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, you are invited to informal drop-in conversation hours in the CCT office. We’re on the second floor of Tutt Library across from the Colket Center and we’ll have coffee, tea, snacks, and fizzy water. Come talk about anything on your mind—big or small, general or specific—with Interim Director Ryan Bañagale and whomever else might happen to drop by as well.

Crown Conversations
The CCT invites and cultivates active conversation among all members of our community—faculty, staff, and students—as we continue to contemplate longstanding and emergent topics central to pedagogical experiences across our campus. Block 4 features two lunch-time sessions (food provided) on artificial intelligence that affect our collective work as educators. In addition to these sessions, you can visit the CCT page on Artificial Intelligence at CC for additional resources:
“An Intro to Generative AI”: Thursday, 12/7 – 12:15pm – South Hall Common

Professors Blake Jackson and Ben Nye (Computer Science) provide a primer on the history of AI, some common misconceptions, how Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT work, and what such tools can be good for.

“The Ethics of ChatGPT”: Thursday, 12/14 – 12:15pm – South Hall Commons

Professors Helen Daly (Philosophy), Cory Scott (Computer Science), Leland Tabares (Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Studies) and student Elliot Triplett (Computer Science/Feminist and Gender Studies) consider the inherent bias of tools such as ChatGPT and what our engagement with them means for our individual and collective values.

If you would like to lead a future discussion and/or suggest a topic for conversation, please email Interim Director, Ryan Bañagale.

Syllabi Statement Resources
As faculty and academic staff prepare their syllabi for spring semester, please remember to include all the statements appropriate for your particular course. A variety of examples can be found on the Dean of Faculty’s Course Policies and Syllabi Statements document and statements particular to artificial intelligence have been provided by the CC Honor Council. If you have questions or want to think about ways to hone particular statements for the needs of your classroom, please schedule an appointment with the Interim Director or drop by during the CCTs open office hours. 

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Today at CC Digest for Students

A Daily Digest for Colorado College

Today at CC Digest

A Daily Digest for Colorado College

Today at CC Digest for Students

A Daily Digest for Colorado College