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Photo: Allegheny College junior Bennett Gould in the college’s organic garden, outside the Richard J. Cook Center for Environmental Science

Oct. 26, 2015 – The Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium has presented 2015 Campus Sustainability Champion awards to Bennett Gould, a junior at Allegheny College, and to Creek Connections, an outreach program of Allegheny College that brings hands-on watershed education to students ranging in age from elementary to high school.

Campus Sustainability Champion awards are given annually to students, faculty and staff of Pennsylvania colleges and universities who have made meaningful contributions benefiting social, economic and/or environmental sustainability on their campuses, in their communities or in society at large. Contributions can be in teaching, research, co-curricular programs, campus culture, community service and campus operations.

Both Gould and Wendy Kedzierski, director of Creek Connections, participated in a panel of Campus Sustainability Champions at PERC’s annual conference, held on October 9.

Gould was honored for his leadership with Allegheny College’s annual four-week energy challenge, for reviving the college’s bike share program, and for developing a detailed proposal to add humidistats to dorm ventilation fans and to place outdoor recycling receptacles across Allegheny’s campus.

“Bennett has been a real go-getter in the department,” said Eric Pallant, Christine Scott Nelson Professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Science at Allegheny College. “He translates his passion for sustainability and his classroom learning into concrete actions that make a real difference.”

Creek Connections was honored for its ongoing work with K-12 schools in northwest Pennsylvania, southwest New York and the Pittsburgh area to turn local waterways into outdoor environmental laboratories. Emphasizing hands-on, inquiry-based investigation, Creek Connections annually involves more than 40 secondary schools and the classes of 50 teachers.