The Sustainable Campuses Initiative has as a main objective to create opportunities for knowledge exchange on Campus Sustainability between Dawson College and partner post secondary institutions in Mexico. Student involvement in this initiative is key.  Dawson students engage directly through participating in an institutional exchange which has been designed as an “internship”. Students spend a total of six weeks in Mexico carrying becoming involved in campus sustainability initiatives. During the 2015-2016 academic year, two cohorts of Dawson College students carried out an internship through the Sustainable Campuses Initiative.

The first cohort was a group of three, second year CRLT students, Joni Saganash, Dalton Stewart and Arielle Champetier. Four students were selected to be a part of this experience, however as the date approached one of the students selected was unable to join the group and it was too late for us to recruit another student and prepare him/her appropriately for this experience.  The three students traveled to Mexico on February 22nd, 2016. For the first three weeks they did their internship at the Universidad Pedagogica Nacional (UPN), in Cuernavaca, state of Morelos.  The main objective of their stay there was to support ongoing sustainability projects. The students got involved in several institutional projects. They contributed to the painting of a mural about Peace and Resistance, a student driven initiative to honor the disappearance of young Mexican student; they helped to establishing a strategy for saving water at the university; participated in a writing workshop to explore Nature as an inspiring source; collaborated in the work to “green” a pre-school, and many other projects. It is important to point out that one of the students, Joni Saganash is part of a Cree community. During this internship she presented to the UPN student and teacher community about her culture and the diverse livelihood activities that links her community to the land.

The last three weeks the students interned at the Universidad Politecnica del Estado de Morelos (UPEMOR). During their internship they supported the work of the Centro de Educacion y Capacitacion Ambiental (CECAM) by updating and giving new ideas on their environmental education program designed to introduce the student population to environmental issues and practices at the campus.  Most importantly the students participated in the “Second Itinerant Bi-National Forum: Art, Science and Tradition for sustainability. The students provided organization and logistical support during the forum but also meaningfully participated as attendees and presenters.

During their stay the three students documented their experience and shared it widely, through facebook but mainly through a blog (https://crltinternshipinmexico.wordpress.com).  Upon their return the students did a presentation at Dawson College that was widely attended including attendance of many CRLT students and teaches as well as members of the Dawson community in general.

The second cohort of students was a varied group. Two students came from Health Science (Samantha Bennett and Emma Malcomber), one student from Environmental Science (Aniela Walewicks) and one from General Social Science (Samantha Nesterenko). The students began their internship on May 30th 2016. Samantha Nesterenko as she was a graduating second year student, did the six weeks of her internship at the UPEMOR. For her internship she was asked to document biodiversity on campus. Under the supervision of Valeria Davila from the CECAM, Samantha documented, through photographs, different species found on campus. She also helped to identify these species. The documentation is now being used to create different educational and awareness raising materials that highlight the high biodiversity found on campus with the objective of protecting the different habitats found there.

Aniela, Samantha B. and Emma spent the first three weeks of their internship at the Tres Marias community college, which is part of the Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos (UAEM), which whom Dawson College is presently signing collaboration agreements. At the Tres Marias campus students engaged in several activities. They were involved in the planting of stevia, as part of a sustainability project ran by the school, as well as making tomato and lettuce seedlings for the school’s vegetable garden. All the agricultural projects at this campus are particularly relevant as the school is in a rural setting. The high altitudes also present a challenge for some of the crops and all project are being done as a testing/research exercise for future community development projects. During their stay in Tres Marias the students gave a presentation on different Dawson College sustainability projects and had the opportunity to visit and learn about local initiatives for sustainability.  Upon completion of the first three weeks the students continued their internship at the UPEMOR where they took part of a workshop on environmental leadership given by Dawson’s Chris Adam. During their time at the UPEMOR they worked on and learn about different environmental initiatives on campus. During their internship they documented and shared their experience through a blog and are presently preparing a presentation for the Environmental Seminar where they will share their experience with students and teachers in the two environmental profiles (Environmental Science and Environmental Studies profile) https://internshipmexico2016.wordpress.com/2016/07/05/220/