By Nadine Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 10, 2012
Melissa Kendzierski graduated in 2010, but left a legacy of passion and dedication for sustainability at UFV behind her.
Kendzierski recently shared her story with the future members of Students for Sustainability (SFS) a student-based association dedicated to making UFV an environmentally-friendly campus and discussed ways to potentially revive the association.
Kendzierski first joined SFS, then known as the Enviro club, in 2008.
“It was a bit of a passion project when I first got involved,” Kendzierski said, “but like most passions projects it can teach you a lot of things that can transfer into, or define, whatever it is that you’re interested in.”
Kendzierski’s interest in sustainability at UFV began while taking an environmental issues class with Michelle Rhodes of UFV’s geography department.
“[Rhodes] encouraged me to get involved,” Kendzierski explained. “We were given an assignment to start an environmental initiative group on campus. My group’s project led me to network with a company based from Vancouver called Frogfile, a business that carried green office supplies.”
Kendzierski managed to get the buyer of the UFV bookstore materials to meet with the company, and succeeded in having the UFV bookstore purchase green supplies.
“Being able to accomplish something like that was incredibly rewarding,” Kendzierski explained. “I thought: I am a change-maker. That, in turn, led me to get a little more involved. So I stepped into what was then the Enviro club.”
The rest is sustainability history.
The club was a success; a major coup for the underdog association was organizing and running a wildly successful U-Pass campaign. Other initiatives included hosting the 2009 BC Sustainable Campuses Conference at UFV, working with the community to implement recycling at UFV, and bringing the water fill stations to campus, among other projects.
Kendzierski is now the program coordinator of Parks, Recreation and Culture in the District of Mission. She attributes much of her success to her experience at SFS.
“I’m working in a job that requires a lot of coordination; I manage staff, I do hiring, I market and create,” Kendzierski explained. “All of the things I did in SFS, like marketing for the U-Pass campaign, the coordination that went behind the sustainable campus conference, and managing volunteers – that all contributed to the experience that prepared me for where I am now.”
Kendzierski strongly recommends participating in extracurricular activity while taking classes. “If anything, you get to accomplish something cool, you get something to hang your hat on; you get the opportunity to gain new skills that make you incredibly marketable.”
