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STUDENT MAKES MARK ON CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY

Megan Marshall believes that "we must be the change we wish to see in the world." For the past four years, Marshall has lived her conviction as a leader of the University of Denver's campus sustainability efforts as an undergraduate student.

"I got involved in the DU Environmental Team during my freshman year," said Marshall, a first-year graduate student in public policy. "It's a grass roots student group designed to help turn students' ideas into reality. With support and guidance, I was able to channel my passion for sustainability to accomplish tangible sustainability goals on campus."

Her earliest accomplishment was co-founding the DU Earth Day Summit her freshman year with Mariah Shell, a fellow campus sustainability leader. The yearly summit offers students the opportunity to learn how to follow their passion in the most sustainable way possible, according to Marshall.

Since her freshman year, Marshall has served on the Sustainability Council, a body comprised of students, faculty and staff dedicated to helping the university become more sustainable.

"The council is made up of several committees that target a variety of sustainability components of the university. The Reuse Reduce Recycle committee targets responsible waste disposal systems across campus along with overall waste minimization as a whole. I have chaired the RRR committee since my sophomore year," she said.

In addition, Marshall works for the University of Denver as the student waste coordinator in the Center for Sustainability. The Center was founded in the summer of 2012 and grew out of the many efforts and initiatives of the Sustainability Council. It is headed by Coordinator Chad King, whom Marshall credits for serving as a source of empowerment and inspiration. Marshall's work with the Center includes campus-wide recycling, composting and zero waste hockey games.

According to the Center's website, the country's first zero waste hockey games started at DU with the goal of diverting as much waste from the landfill and into recycling and composting as possible. During games, 30 zero waste volunteers teach patrons what goes where.

"I hope that through the foundation of the zero waste program we will be able to use it as a sustainable waste disposal model for the rest of campus," Marshall said. "My work around bin parity, sustainable purchasing, and waste minimization has grown to be a huge passion of mine over the past year."

Marshall graduated in June with a double major in sociology and public policy and a minor in leadership studies. She will graduate with a master's in public policy from the 4+1 program in June 2014.

"I hope when I graduate I can continue my sustainability work through some type of sustainable consulting capacity to other organizations throughout the state of Colorado," she said. "I don't really know where my passion for dumpster diving will take me, I just know it has and will continue to captivate my attention for quite some time."