Get Involved

There are plenty of opportunities for Randolph College students to get involved with the sustainability movement on campus and in the City of Lynchburg.

Environmental Club

Help promote environmental awareness! The Environmental Club works to educate the community on sustainable practices, hosting environmental activities and events.

Sustainability Council

The Sustainability Council is a voluntary, college-wide committee composed of faculty, staff, and students. The Council’s responsibility is to support and facilitate efforts to enhance responsible management of College resources and to promote improvement of the quality of the environment and community at Randolph College. We promote awareness of economic, environmental, and social sustainability issues and advocacy through orientation, education, and coordination of programs and initiatives throughout the campus and the Lynchburg community. The Sustainability Council is responsible for maintaining the President’s Climate Commitments, Bee Campus USA certification, and many other initiatives on campus.

Students may be considered for nomination once they are sophomores and interested students should speak with Professor Karin Warren, kwarren@randolphcollege.edu.

Randolph students pick up their free Earth Day t-shirts.
Earth Day awareness and outreach through the popular t-shirt give-away.

Organic Garden

Want to grow your own food or take care of farm animals? Volunteer at the Organic Garden, a National Wildlife Federation certified wildlife habitat. This student-created garden features community plots, chickens, a protected amphibian pond, an edible perennials food forest, and a native fruit tree orchard. The garden is also a certified People’s Garden; the designation, awarded by the United States Department of Agriculture, recognizes gardens that produce local food, use sustainable maintenance practices, provide educational opportunities, and bring people together in their community. Randolph offers an organic gardening physical education class in the fall and spring each year.

The student-created Organic Garden features community plots, chickens, an edible perennials food forest, and a native fruit tree orchard.
Students relieve stress by getting away from the books and tending their plots in the Organic Garden.

Rummage Room

The Rummage Room was founded by Marie Abowd ’18 to combat move-out and move-in waste. Every spring, when Randolph students move out of the residence halls, they can donate their unwanted furniture, appliances, books, school supplies, posters, kitchenware, and other “stuff” to the Rummage Room. Faculty and staff are also invited to donate items. Student workers and volunteers open the Room for current students to “shop” for free at various times throughout the semester. Keep your eyes on the Daily Announcements in the college portal for open hours.

The Rummage Room combats move-in and move-out waste.

Internships

Want to address a community sustainability issue and earn course credit? Design your own internship! Past student interns conducted a campus greenhouse gas inventory, introduced reusable to-go containers to the dining hall, and worked for the City of Lynchburg, to name a few. Stop by the Career Development Office, ask your professors.

Work Study

Get paid to help run on-campus initiatives such as the Organic Garden and the Randolph College Bike Share. These student worker positions are responsible for keeping our bikes and garden in tip-top shape. Students learn skills, are able to develop projects of interest to them, and create social media content of their work.

The Randolph College Bike Share program leases bikes to students, faculty, and staff for free.
The Randolph College Bike Share program leases bikes to students, faculty, and staff for free.

Green Fund

Each year, Student Government, in cooperation with the Sustainability Council, awards grant money (up to $2,000) to individual students and student organizations to kick-start  sustainability initiatives for the Randolph College campus and community.  Got an idea for a sustainability initiative but short on funds? Apply for the Green Fund!