The annual Northeast Sustainability Student Leaders Symposium brings together student sustainability educators/leaders (sometimes called ‘Eco-Reps’) from many different colleges and universities in the Northeast to learn and be inspired by each other for a half-day conference. The SSLS Board of Curators (BOC) is now seeking proposals to host the Fall 2020 symposium.

What is the Sustainability Student Leaders Symposium?

The annual Sustainability Student Leaders Symposium (SSLS) (née Eco-Rep Symposium) brings together Student Sustainability Leaders from many different colleges and universities in the Northeast to learn and be inspired by each other during a half-day conference. Peer-to-peer sustainability education and engagement programs (sometimes called Eco-Reps) are commonly found at colleges and universities with sustainability programs. These students promote environmental stewardship by raising awareness about ecological issues and encouraging environmentally conscious behavior.

The symposium is a set of presentations, workshops, and roundtable discussions by students or regional professionals. The structure of the symposium allows students from different schools to lead sessions on a variety of topics, providing valuable presentation experience as well as facilitating the spread of ideas between schools. Sessions are typically grouped by broad topics, or tracks, such as “engagement,” “building a program,” or “communications.” The symposium typically ends with a social gathering that allows these students to informally meet each other and share ideas.

The symposium fills an important role by showing students that they belong to a larger community of people like themselves who are all working for the same cause of creating a sustainably-conscious community at their college or university, mirroring our professional community.

What will hosting get you? The SSLS is a great opportunity to build your program, learn from other schools, and provide leadership opportunities and event planning experiences to your students. The first symposium was held at Tufts in 2009 and the Board of Curators maintains a database of resources from each of the host schools since that time, and also provides guidance on event coordination, as requested.