Held biweekly throughout each semester, the Office of Sustainability’s EcoReps workshops connect sustainability-minded students with peers and career opportunities.
EcoReps workshop topics include transit, recycling, and environmental research.
Photo by Ryan S. Brandenberg
For Owls with an interest in creating a environmentally friendly future, EcoReps workshops provide a launch point from classroom and into the world.
Held twice a month, the sessions allow students to learn about sustainability-related topics in new ways, network with other students and alumni with similar interests, and explore career opportunities.
“The EcoReps workshops are a space for like-minded students to come together and engage in fellowship and it’s also a great space for us to bring external partners and community partners to engage with a diverse and dedicated cohort of students,” said Caroline Burkholder, senior sustainability manager. “Getting students in one place at one time makes it easy to share a lot of different resources, whether it’s job opportunities or upcoming events.”
Workshop topics range from issues that impact the local and the global and everything in between. EcoReps workshops in the spring 2026 semester included presentations by the coalition manager of Transit Forward Philadelphia; a representative from Climate Action PA; and Zamira Chevrestt, CLA ’21, a Temple alum who is now the communication manager for In The Same Boat, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing marine pollution in the Arctic and Northern Europe. One workshop near the end of the semester was dedicated solely to students’ presentations of their own environmental research.
“These workshops give students an opportunity to share information with each other and learn current issues in sustainability as a touchpoint for our peer-to-peer education program, EcoReps,” said Bryce Forys, sustainability coordinator. “We showcase a variety of different topics that students are passionate about.”
The workshops are just one component of the Office of Sustainability’s EcoReps program, which also offers community service opportunities such as working at the annual Temple Thrift pop-up sale on campus, recovering recyclable items for one of Temple’s Zero Waste programs and tabling at events. EcoReps also organizes experiential learning opportunities to local sites, often encouraging students to use Philadelphia’s public transit system to get there. Recent excursions include a screen-printing workshop at The Fabric Workshop and Museum and a birding walk through John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.
“The EcoReps are always representing the Office of Sustainability. They are kind of like the hands and feet of the Climate Action Plan. They are doing outreach and community engagement and having critical conversations with their peers and with leadership about why environemtnal justice matters and what it looks like to be more sustainable,” said Burkholder.
Alejandro Sanoja, a Class of 2027 ecology, evolution and biodiversity major from Delaware County, got involved in EcoReps his sophomore year. Now, as a senior, he helps lead a Zero Waste program that gathers ink, toner and 3D-printer waste from around campus to ensure it’s properly recycled. He also collects compostable materials from staff and delivers them to the Temple Community Garden compost pile as part of the Departmental Compost Program.
“The EcoReps program made me realize just how much of a hands-on job the sustainability industry is,” said Sanoja. “Nothing can just be put into a bin and then it magically gets recycled, sorted, processed and then sent to the right place. There have to be people at every step making sure the right things go to the right places. It’s really opened my eyes to how much work goes into something as simple as making sure a printer cartridge gets recycled properly.”
For Michael De La Parra Gurr, a Class of 2026 business administration major from Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, the EcoReps workshops have helped supplement his interest in environmental isusues in the field of business and inspired him to start a community garden.
“Even though I’m a business major, my passion is the environment. Sustainability is the lens through which I’ve seen all my business classes. EcoReps has helped me bridge my interests in business and sustainability and introduced me to professors like Lynne M. Andersson,” said De La Parra Gurr. “I’m taking one of her classes, and she's helped me understand more about corporate sustainability.”
While the EcoReps workshops can help students launch careers in the sustainability field, they welcome students of all majors who are interested in environmental issues. After all, all Temple students face similar challenges in integrating sustainable practices into their everyday lives.
“I think what’s unique about EcoReps is that we think deeply about behavioral change and how we live our lives and embody our values day to day,” said Burkholder.
“Students can support each other as they work through challenges and solve problems. We’ve created a space where they can learn together in a way that’s nonjudgmental and accepting and, hopefully, fun.”