Ambassador Experiences
Sustainability Ambassadors share about their experiences. What did they love about the experience? What did they learn? Why would they encourage students to apply for the position? Hear from Carlee Campuzano (Communications Studies and Film/Television major), Alyssa Helmling, (Biology Pre-Med major), and Nnenna Eze (Computer Engineering major & Mechanical Engineering minor).
Favorite part about being a Sustainability Ambassador?
Getting to meet hundreds of excited new students coming to BU and having conversations about all that sustainability@BU does on campus, including [working with] the clubs, annual events, all of the projects in progress, and my favorite talking point, the Earth House. Outside of the sustainability conversations, I loved learning about who they are and what their goals are for their college experience. Our team was also so much fun to work with; I had the best summer bonding with them and made so many memories. -Carlee
Meeting other people who were also passionate about the environment. Making lasting friendships with coworkers and sharing my knowledge on sustainability with incoming students was the most rewarding aspect of this job. It was such a positive work environment and everyone really supported each other. My time as a Sustainability Ambassador was the best summer of my life! -Alyssa
All of the people I’ve met in the process! Other sustainability ambassadors were so passionate, and we often bounced ideas off of each other to help improve the way we communicated to incoming students. They’ve also become some of my closest friends. My supervisors were amazing; Gabriela and Lisa were so open to answering any questions I had, and they definitely helped me improve a lot of communication skills. -Nnenna
What did the experience help you learn?
I learned all about what makes a team thrive. I learned a lot about myself, too, and the working environments that I enjoy most. My main takeaway from the summer was that making people feel welcomed, loved, and appreciated can go a long way in any room that I’m in. -Carlee
I learned so much about what we as students can do to make a difference on campus and even beyond BU. There’s so many aspects about sustainability and environmentalism I never would have learned about if it wasn’t for this job. -Alyssa
How much BU tries to incorporate the opinions of students into their sustainability decisions. My supervisors would always ask if we had any ideas about what BU could be doing better, or what we think other students would like to see BU doing. There are also so many events where students can come and voice their opinions to the Sustainability Department, which I think is really important in creating a community where everyone feels like they are apart of the conversation. -Nnenna
Why would you encourage a student to apply for the position?
You get to interact with so many awesome people, work on an incredible team, build new relationships, and get to know yourself more. sustainability@BU is such an admirable department of people, and they’re always hard at work on important projects for our campus. Summers in Boston are also picture perfect! – Carlee
If someone is interested in making BU a more environmentally conscious campus, they should definitely apply to become a Sustainability Ambassador. Not only would they learn so much more about the complex topic of sustainability and discover more information about something they’re interested in, but they would also get to share what they know with others and use it to build connections. -Alyssa
There are so many benefits to being a sustainability ambassador — meeting new people, improving communication skills, learning more about sustainable habits, and having the opportunity to inform others about the many things you learn in this job are all amazing takeaways from this experience. I found myself gaining so much more than I ever thought I would from being a sustainability ambassador, and I think it’s an incredible and unique experience for everyone. -Nnenna