Student Blog Submission
by Alison Gibson
Environmental Studies Student Organization (ESSO)
The Environmental Studies Student Organization (ESSO) has
made great progress from humble beginnings as an ever-expanding ESF club that
applies an interdisciplinary approach to solving community issues in relation
to Environmental Studies (EST). The members are “dedicated and enthusiastic,”
according to ESSO president, Frannie Monasterio, who considers herself a
“facilitator” for the club’s collaborated ideas.
ESSO is mainly composed of EST students, since the club
works closely with the EST department. EST students must select one of three
option areas within the major: Policy, Planning, and Law; Biological Science
Applications; and Environment, Communication, and Society. The club helps lower
division undergraduate students determine which option area to choose and constantly
works to improve the EST major and faculty advising. To pursue this goal, mixers
are held in the fall and spring to showcase an informative community comprised
of current students, professors, and advisors.
“To bring together the EST majors on a similar front,” says
Monasterio, when asked about ESSO’s mission. “We all have our own options, but
we don’t often collaborate, aside from the occasional class project, so the
idea was to engage all of us in a bigger issue together outside of the
classroom that we were actually interested in.”
Drew Gamils, ESSO’s co-vice president, believes ESSO allows
students to gain strength within the EST community. “Hopefully through the club
[students] can find other students who have the same problems,” says Gamils.
She has faith in the club’s “support system,” and after members have been eased
into the major, they can apply their studies through community service and off
campus educational opportunities.
On October 25, six ESSO members worked with the local
Syracuse Rescue Mission to feed over 200 city residents, and the club plans to
return frequently as a community outreach effort. Additionally, on September 16, ESSO worked with Sarah House, a local
hospitality house, at the Strathmore Parks Run. Volunteers worked in the
“Family Fun Area” which featured face painting, a dart game, and a bounce
house. Traditionally, ESSO has been involved with local street clean-ups, on
university streets such as Clarendon Street, Euclid Avenue, and Ostrom Avenue.
The club wants to extend its focus to environmental
education, concentrating on social aspects instead of the “hard sciences,” by patterning
with the Student Environmental Education Coalition (SEEC) with its efforts to
reach out to local Syracuse schools. ESSO also wants to make greater local
impacts, involving political action or research.
Due to difficulties with the club’s organization last year, ESSO
is the only ESF club to have a budget of $0 allowed by the Undergraduate
Student Association (USA). Asking USA for money didn’t seem like the best
option, according to Monasterio. The club decided to take on the responsibility
and burden of fundraising, involving a pancake/waffle sale and multiple bake
sales, which have all been largely successful. Gamils is optimistic, saying, “We
haven’t given up; we’ve kind of got into a little bit of trouble when we didn’t
have a budget, and…we’ve done our best to increase our [member] numbers and
raise our budget from scratch.”
The money raised will go towards attending conferences, such
as POWERSHIFT 2013, a rally for environmental issues working through wearepowershift.org.
Additionally, this semester, the club is planning a trip to NYC for the weekend
after final exams. NYC is a “prime choice” for many of the subjects EST majors practice,
such as policies and community planning, says Monasterio. Gamils explains that
members will look at “increasing green space and infrastructure in the city.” One
of the main attractions will be visiting the High Line, a public park built on
a freight rail line above Manhattan’s West Side streets.
Gamils and Kyle Wilkinson, a new ESF student and ESSO member,
plan to attend the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) 2013
National Conference: Disasters and Environment, the 13
th conference
on science, policy, and the environment, held in Washington, D.C. from January
15-17. They are volunteering as note takers and look forward to sharing their
experiences with the rest of ESSO upon their return.
Both Monasterio and Gamils recall when the club had four
people, but ESSO’s size has tripled this year, with about 10-15 active members,
so Gamils jokes, “While that doesn’t seem like a huge club, that is really big
for ESSO.” With new members providing enthusiasm and ideas, ESSO has big plans.
“We have goals in the future. We want to do big events, and everyone seems on
board.”
Sources
Drew Gamils
dvgamils@syr.edu
Frannie Monasterio
flmonast@syr.edu
http://www.environmentaldisasters.net/
