TEAM BULLS

How Is The Student Environmental Awareness Society Helping Our

Society?

Team Members:

ENC3250.797S15

Theresa Ladkani

Professor F. Tobienne

Jeremy Berger
Shelby Jones

University of South Florida

Donald Hoover

St. Petersburg
140 Seventh Ave. South
St. Petersburg Fl, 33701

Table of Contex
Table of Context
Executed Summery
Introduction
Who is the Student Environmental Awareness Society?
Installing Watergoat
More About Partnerships
USF St. Pete students plant trees ahead of international climate change event
Student Environmental Awareness Society Film series
Other Events
Social Media
Student Environmental Awareness Society IN 2011 AT USFSP
Non Related SEAS News at USFSP
Conclusion
Work Cited

Annotated Bibliography

Executive Summary
The Student Environment
Awareness Society is an active club that
helps the idea of going green through their
activities. The members in that club are
aware of most issues that are going on in
society and are trying to take steps to fix it.
While walking through the campus, a
person can see that the entire campus is

green, which emphasize the importance of

the condition of our society that we live in.
The Team Bulls is going to inform the reader
about the activities and achievement of the
Student Environment Awareness Society,
how to get in touch with them, and hope that
after reading this information, you will have
an idea about this environmental club.

Introduction
University of South Florida St.
Petersburg has a lot of different
organization and systems in place that are
designated to help save our environment.
As a University, they are very focused on
making sure that we, as the society, are
doing our part to keep our waters and
campus as clean as possible in order to
help sustain our environment. Having a lot
of organizations that help the environment,
the work is splitting between all
organizations.

Environmental Awareness Society (SEAS)

is USFSPs oldest club that has promoted
awareness for the environment while also
providing activities to get students involved
in helping the environment. This group of
students have done so much to get others
involved, raise awareness, and actually
carryout these activities to help the
environment. We will speak of the many
activities and events that Student
Environmental Awareness Society has put
on to continue USF St Petersburgs
environmental awareness. Hopefully after
reading this paper, you will be able to see
and understand the importance of our clubs
around the campus and all the effort that
they put into their work.

Although the campus has many

things that assist student to be involved in
our clubs including our smoke free campus,
the Gardening Club, and the Student Green
Energy Fund (SGEF), the Student

Who is the Student Environmental Awareness Society?

The Student Environmental
Awareness Society is an active purveyor of
information regarding environmentally
friendly practices, organizations,
and services. The Student Environmental
Awareness Society hosts a website
that updates followers regularly on local
events such as the society's
monthly beach cleanings. Scrolling through
the website of the Student Environmental
Awareness Society, a person can find all of
the information needed to be able to join
this society. In the beginning they mention
that they are the longest running club in
USF St Petersburg, which can give an idea
to the potential members that they will be
joining a very active club that is focused on
its community. They make it clear what they
do, and they even make this society
interesting to everyone with different
passion. The SEAS site also invited
students to attend meetings about club
events, community outreach and potential
projects. SEAS proudly offers guidance to
students who wish to pursue degrees and
careers in the fields of ecology,
sustainability, resource management,
climate change, conservation and
environmental science and policy. Certain
professors teaching classes in these said
fields invite members of the society to speak
during their lectures, to increase awareness
of their efforts and encourage
participation. USFSP requires a course on
wetland environments as an exit course for
graduation, which is another way for the
school to help SEAS achieve their goals of
improving our local natural wetlands and
other habitats and ecosystems. The club
meets every week on campus, Wednesday
at 4:00 pm in the USC Coral Room. During
their meeting, they talk about different topics
that concern the students in that club. They

talk about current issues, classroom topics,

and community events. They also help to
organize on-campus traditions like Monthly
Beach Clean Ups, Food Day, Earth Week,
and other activities during the semester.
This society is created for anyone
who has an interest to have a greener
campus, community, and world. Basically
they want to make the world a greener
place to live in, through their activities.
The Student Environmental
Awareness society's motto is "Go Green,
Stay Gold.", staying true to their school
colors and spirit, while presenting a
powerful statement about the mission and
passion of the club. This organization also
provides a resource from which students
are able to springboard innovative ideas, or
issue a call to arms when action is needed.
The club has a record of bringing attention
to important issues. In one instance, a
student posted a picture of copious amounts
of trash at low tide, which prompted
immediate action and an impromptu
environmental spot-clean.

The president of the Student

Environmental Awareness Society is
Cassidy McGrane. The treasurer is Ashley
Ridgeway and the advisor is Dr. Leon
6

Harding. Another helpful information on the

Student Environmental Awareness Society
website is the calendar tab. Basically, it has
all the previous and upcoming activities for
that club, when you click on the event; the
date, time, and location is provided along
with a description of the event which gave a
clear explanation about that event. The
event is laid out in a simple way to make it
easy for those who want to attend it.

innovative and lucrative ways to support the

green movement and environmental
consciousness. Many of the members of the
entrepreneurship club also participate in
activities and events with the Student
Environmental Awareness Society. One of
the recent projects entered into a national
innovation competition was a beehive
constructed completely from recycles cans,
which would assist in the use of recycled tin,
as well as promote new
thriving bee colonies. Each year the
Entrepreneurship club enters into similar
competitions, where innovations for
environmental improvements and support of
the green movement are highly encouraged.
Awards are given to students in the form of
cash and grants who come up with the best
"elevator pitches" describing their
innovations. Several of the winners have
gone on to market their products and
innovations, creating successful businesses
based on their ideas.

The club's presence on campus has

inspired many new members to join and
take action against environmental
destruction in the area. SEAS
has partnered with other clubs on campus
such as the USFSP Waterfront
Activities and the Entrepreneurship club to
make their efforts more
efficient and effective.
The Entrepreneurship club on the
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
campus has been very successful in
competitions for business start-ups. The
club also encourages ideas about

Installing Watergoat
In 2011, the Student Environmental
Awareness Society at USF St. Petersburg
recently received a $3,500 from Tampa bay
Estuary program. This money was used for
the installation and maintenance watergoat
that will help keep trash and pollutants away
from the city out of Tampa Bay. The
president of the Student Awareness said
that they called it watergoat because water
eats everything just like a goat.

weather; if it was a stormy weather the

cleaning will occur twice a week because
more trash will be stuck in the watergoat.
The Tampa Bay Estuary Program aid with
the purchase of pickers, gloves, a storage
shed, first-aid and sanitation supplies, trash
bags and the new watergoat.
The new watergoat has a nutrient
lining that holds back all contaminants from
the water as water passes through the
lining. The watergoat also helps to stop
trash that would float on the surface of the
water into the bay, which is very important
to keep the water clean, without any
pollutants, and safe. The Student
Environmental Awareness Society has a
mission to bring attention to all issues that
are happening in our society, they are also
trying to help solve them with their activities,
as you will be reading in this paper.

When the old watergoat was still

installed, members in the Student
Environmental Awareness Society were
maintaining it. They would take kayaks to
clean the watergoat and take out any trash
that might be stuck in the watergoat. The
students in the society are going to maintain
the new watergoat the same way to have it
for a long time. The cleaning is usually done
once or twice a week, depending on the

More about partnerships

The Student Environmental
Awareness Society has partnered with other
clubs and environmental groups several
times with the intent to add to our society's
ability to conserve, sustain, and manage
resources. In 2010, the Student
Environmental Awareness Society
partnered with Sierra Club and the Audubon
society to lower our impact on the
environment by planting trees. In fact, many
of the trees seen in the Harborside lawn are
from this partnership.

partnered with Pinellas County in an effort

to remove invasive plants from Pinellas
local habitats, ranging from our
waterways to our inland habitats. The
Student Environmental Awareness Society
has also assisted in the restoration of the
Tampa Bay Estuary program. The Tampa
Bay estuary and coastline has undergone
drastic alterations due to the rapid growth
and development in the area. Dredging,
commercial fishing, building construction,
roadways, bridges, pesticides, and
destruction of fauna and flora have
decreased the natural quality of the
ecosystem. Over that last 40 years,
attention has been drawn to the importance
of restoration in the Tampa Bay estuarine
system. Banning of certain species removal
and extermination, restrictions on
commercial fishing and use of pesticides,
organized clean-ups, and water quality
management groups such as the Southwest
Florida Water Management District have
been efforts made towards the improvement
of the system. Although restoration has
been discussed and attempted, much more
action will need to be taken in order to
reverse the damage done to the area.

Another Partnership
In another venture, the Student
Environmental Awareness Society

10

USF St. Pete students plant trees ahead of international climate change event

An environmental group at USF St.

Petersburg is greening things up around
campus ahead of an international
observance of climate change. The
members of the Student Environmental
Awareness Society decided to plant trees.
On one day they had to water the ground
and get it ready for the dedication ceremony
they had the following Sunday. They hoped
to get sponsors to help with the planting of
trees process. One of the members from the
Student Environmental Awareness Society
said that the trees signifies the collaboration
in community partnership, they also signifies
climate change and that we need to step up,
restoring earth by taking carbon dioxide out
of the environment and having more
oxygen. They think that native trees are

very important aspect and that USF St

Petersburg should be moving toward native
species on campus. The first step in doing
this process was that they made a proposal
and what locations they are going to plant
the trees. Then they presented this proposal
to the ground committees, facilities. The
next step was to answer questions that
these committees, facilities had, and think
about budgets and paying the bills, and if
some of the trees are being donated or
provided by some organization. They had to
go to a lot of meetings to get this project
approved. Overall, the message was to help
the earth and to make it a better place to
live in.

Student Environmental Awareness Society Film series.

The Student Environmental Awareness

Society was starting this film series with one
question in mind. Why didnt we stop
climate change when we had a chance?
The film talks about how did people in 2008
2009 had allowed such disaster thing to
start like global warming, and looking to the
future, to 2055, to a devastated earth.

The name of the film is The Age Of

Stupid. It is directed by Franny Armestrong,
and produced by John Battsek. They want
to bring awareness to people and spread a
message to help our environment, and the
earth in general.

11

Other Events

The students in the Student

Environmental Awareness Society would
also have educational days with elementary
school students, teaching them how to help
better the environment. This event could be
a helpful way to let other students know how
they can become interested and involved in
helping their society as well. The club also
has reading days with other students in the
organization that talks about the
environmental issues and how it affects FL.
Overall the student Environmental
Awareness Society are trying to help and
bring awareness to our society starting with
elementary students.

Attending Conference
One of their other events was when
six members of the Student Environmental
Awareness Society went to a national
conference of the Association for the
Advancement of Sustainability in Higher
Education in Portland. One of the members
said that they were so thrilled that they were
able to visit Portland, such a sustainably
progressive city. This Association for the
Advancement of Sustainability in Higher
Education conference is the largest
conference of higher education with some
two thousands participants. In this
Association for the Advancement of
Sustainability in Higher Education
conference, there were number of green
efficiencies and technologies that the six
members can bring back to help improve
and better our society such as food waste
digester and biodiesel vehicles. The
conference that was attended was very
helpful in many ways for the Students of the
Student Environmental Awareness Society
because it introduced the six members of
the club to new items that could help go
green which will help the society and
environment.

Another way that the students in this

club are helping others is with their Industry
Panel Discussion event which took place
September 22nd, 2014. The career center
with the collaboration of the Student
Environmental Awareness Society planned
an event where professional industries
leaders would come and talk about what
they do in their career. They explained their
jobs requirements and answered any
questions that students who attended that
meeting might have. This event was helpful
because it aid the students understand the
different careers out there and helped them
decide what career path they want to
pursue in their future. This event was very
helpful because it helped our students
become more involved and knowledge in
our society.

Ribbon cutting ceremony

Recently the Student Environmental
Awareness Society attended a ribbon
cutting ceremony that took place on the
USF Tampa campus to launch the new
12

Student Green Energy Fund kiosk that is

now located in the Marshall Student Center.
The kiosk is an interactive center to show
what exactly they are doing with our Student
Green Energy Fee. This is a very important
improvement that the University has funded
that will encourage students to help with the
environment, not only by paying their fee
but also showing students events that they
can attend to help make a difference. I think
that this kiosk will be a huge success in
making sure that students are completely
informed on what is going on within the
University to help the environment and will
also encourage them to go out and attend
these events and make the difference
themselves.

Earth Hour Event

In February 2012, the Student
Environmental Awareness Society was
preparing for eco-friendly activities for the
spring. This club focused on bringing
awareness to USF St Petersburg and to the
community as a whole. One of their events
was the earth hour event. The purpose of
this event is not to use any technology or
electricity to save energy during this hour.
The Student Environmental Awareness
Society planed an outside party with glow in
the dark filed games, a neon theme and the
light out on campus.

Social Media
As we all know today, social media
is the fastest way to spread the news.
Social media includes: Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram, Myspace. The Student
Environmental Awareness Society has
focused on spreading the world through
social media. If anyone would check out
The Student Environmental Awareness
Society they will easily find it on facebook.
Checking out their page can be very
interesting, not only because they post
articles about their event; but because they
post articles on how to go green and help
our society. They share some of the simple
steps that anyone can do to help our society
and the environment in general. Not only
they share some of the helpful steps, but
they also share articles about countries and
society that are trying to help the society.
Some of the articles that people can find
helpful and interesting to read are: Japan

space scientists make wireless energy

breakthrough, 28 Unbelievably Easy Ways
To Kick Your Plastic Addiction. Members in
the Student Environmental Awareness
Society not only found it smart to share
helpful articles, but also knew that this is the
easiest way to get to people. They want to
make sure that they are trying to spread the
message to go green to people. By using
the Social media, members in the Student
Environmental Awareness Society are
reaching out not only for students attending
the University of South Florida St
Petersburg, but they are reaching out to
everyone around the world who is going to
check out their page. If after reading this
paragraph you are interested n checking out
their page on facebook, you can check out
this link:
https://www.facebook.com/SEASUSFSP?
fref=ts.

13

Student Environmental Awareness Society IN 2011 AT USFSP:

2011 was one of the beginning years
for the Student Environmental Awareness
Society at the University of South Florida St.
Pete. One of their priorities from the get-go
was beach restoration, plant removal, and
policy work. Policy work meant anything
from petitions to sign waiving. According to
Dave, who is the coordinator of the office of
environmental responsibility, SEAS is one

of the most active clubs on campus.

Student Environmental Awareness Society
is a networking organizations meaning they
work closely with local Tampa Bay
companies, businesses, and environmental
organizations. For example, they partnered
up with RePower America in an effort to
bring USF to the community.

NON RELATED SEAS NEWS AT USFSP:

In an effort to achieve solar
sustainability, USFSP recently took action.
In 2014, the campus received a $500,000
grant from Duke Energy to install solar array
panels. This year, the panels (as many of us
already know) were installed on the roof of
the parking garage. The 100 kilowatt array
will not only produce energy, but will also be
used for solar power research by many
students and researchers. Additionally, a
similar panel at St. Petersburg college
helped save the university about $20,000 in
electric bills. "USF St. Petersburg is the
fourth school to receive a SunSense grant
from Duke, which acquired St. Petersburgbased Progress Energy in 2012." USF,

SPC, and UCF also have these 'subsense'

arrays. Furthermore, the process wasn't all
that simple. USFSP needed to meet specific
requirements and qualifications in order to
be eligible for the award. Some of these
included, " full-time sustainability
coordinator; installation of an energy
dashboard, or online system that would
allow anyone to monitor energy use at
major buildings; and indications that there
would be an educational role and student
engagement in the process." As it is
mentioned in this section Univerisity of
South Florida St Petersburg proudly present
other groups that contribute out of their time
to help our society and environment as a
14

whole. Which bring joy to everyone in our

community that we still have people out

there who care about the environment.

15

Conclusion
We have introduced to you the many
different areas that Student Environmental
Awareness Society improved in and
continue to improve on our campus. From
the many events to get other to recycle to
the watergoat that has changed the way
that we can keep our oceans clean. Not
only do the Students Environmental
Awareness Society go above and beyond to
raise awareness they also put in the effort to
clean out the watergoat and put in time to
plan these events in hopes to encourage
others to do the same. We have provided a
lot of information about the Student
Environmental Awareness Society, that any
student attending this university who is
interested in our environment can join and
be part of this environmental helping
society. Interested student doesnt
necessary have to join the Student
Environmental Awareness Society in
particular; there are a lot of other clubs that
can be joined that help our society. Quick
mentions about other clubs are: our smoke
free campus, the Gardening Club, and the
Student Green Energy Fund (SGEF). When
trash spreads into the waters it kills innocent
animals because of our neglect for the
environment. The Student Environmental
Awareness Society has done so much to
keep our area of St. Pete clean and they will
continue to do so. Overall, this paper was
designated to bring knowledge and

awareness to our readers about the

importance of the Student Environmental
Awareness Society, along with other clubs,
and what other activities they do. We have
showed you the inprotance of this club to
our campus as a whole and the impact that
they contiue to have on our enviornment,
espically when it comes to making sure that
our waters are clean and that we as a
community are doing our part to keep our
waters as clean as possible. We hope that
this will encourage others to make a change
by helping our enviornment, maybe through
joining SEAS or doing things on their own to
help the enviornment.

16

Works Cited
Bradshaw, Kate. USF St. Pete students plant trees ahead of international climate change
event. WMNF Drive-Time News Thursday. 07 Oct. 2010. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8982>

Industry Panel Discussion. USFSP. USFSP Blog. Sept. 17 2014. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.usfsp.edu/career1/2014/09/17/industry-panel-discussions/>

June, Karlana. "USFSP Heads West for Sustainability Conference". usfsp. USFSP News
Center. 21 Nov 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2015
<http://www.usfsp.edu/blog/2014/11/21/usfsp-heads-west-for-sustainability-conference/>

"Patel College of Global Sustainability | USF | USF Students Showcase Campus

Sustainability Initiatives." Patel School of Global Sustainability RSS. 7 Feb. 2015. Web. 26
Mar. 2015.
<http://psgs.usf.edu/news/article/usf-students-showcase-campus-sustainabilityinitiatives>.

"Patel College of Global Sustainability | USF | USF Students Showcase Campus Sustainability
Initiatives." Patel School of Global Sustainability RSS. 7 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.

<http://psgs.usf.edu/news/article/usf-students-showcase-campus-sustainabilityinitiatives>.

"Students Earn Grant to Enhance Harbor Clean-Up Efforts." usfsp. USF St Petersbrg. 2 Feb.
2011. Web. 25 Mar 2015.
<http://www.usfsp.edu/blog/tag/student-environmental-awareness-society/>

Student Environmental Awareness Society. Orgsync. Web, 25 March 2015

<https://orgsync.com/62580/chapter>
Starling, Amanda. SEAS plans Earth friendly events. Crowsneststpete. 22 Feb 2012. Web. 07
Apr 2015.

<http://crowsneststpete.com/2012/02/22/seas-plans-earth-friendly-events/>

The Age of Stupid showing tonight at USF St. Pete campus (video). Cltampa. 20 Oct. 2009.
Web. 08 Apr. 2009.
<http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2009/10/20/the-age-of-stupid-showing-tonight-atusf-st-pete-campus-video>

Annotated Bibliography
June, Karlana. "USFSP Heads West for Sustainability Conference". usfsp. USFSP News Center. 21 Nov
2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2015
<http://www.usfsp.edu/blog/2014/11/21/usfsp-heads-west-for-sustainability-conference/>

This article talks about Student Enviornmental Awarness Society attending a conference and
talking about how they brought some technology from the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher
Education,

"Patel College of Global Sustainability | USF | PCGS and SEA Collaborate on Recyclemania 2015." Patel
School of Global Sustainability RSS. 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
<http://psgs.usf.edu/news/article/pcgs-and-sea-collaborate-on-recyclemania-2015>.

This article announces the collaboration between the USF Student Environmental Association
and the Patel College of Global Sustainability to host Recyclemania 2015 on the USF Tampa campus
from February 23-March 26. It also provides a list of events that will take place for those who would like to
participate.

"Patel College of Global Sustainability | USF | USF Students Showcase Campus Sustainability
Initiatives." Patel School of Global Sustainability RSS. 7 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
<http://psgs.usf.edu/news/article/usf-students-showcase-campus-sustainability-initiatives>.
This article is about the ribbon cutting ceremony that took place to launch the new Student Green
Energy Fund kiosk that is now located in the Marshall Student Center. It also talks about the kiosk being a
interactive center to show what exactly they are doing with our Student Green Energy Fee.

"Students Earn Grant to Enhance Harbor Clean-Up Efforts." usfsp. USF St Petersbrg. 2 Feb. 2011. Web.
25 Mar 2015.

<http://www.usfsp.edu/blog/tag/student-environmental-awareness-society/>

This article talks about one of the Society's achievements. The society was funded to help with
watergoat. Additionally, it also mentioned how they clean it and how often.

Grant to help USFSP produce, study solar power. (2014, June 15). Retrieved March 26, 2015, from
http://tbo.com/news/education/grant-to-help-usf-produce-study-solar-power-20140615/

This article talks about the $500000 that the Student Environmental Awareness Society was
awarded from Duke Energy. This is used to buy a solar array. This is not only to help produce energy but
it is used to help students and researchers study solar power.