Project Hilltop
APRIL 22 2010. 11AM-2PM.
Come by Red Square (Sellinger if raining) on Earth Day & check out what faculty, staff, local businesses, and students are doing to keep Georgetown sustainable.
Learn how you can be a part of the movement! |
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Project Hilltop is a group of RAs, Hall Directors, and residents working together for community ownership of our physical space on campus. Our focus right now is on sustainability! Want to join the group, have ideas or concerns? E-mail Jess Buckley at jb577@georgetown.edu.
Come to our meetings in the Spring 2010 semester. Roughly every other Monday at 1PM in the McCarthy 5th floor common lounge. Our meeting dates: Jan 25, Feb 8, Feb 22, March 15, March 29
April 12, April 19, May 3.
Our two big events this semester?
- Green Square on Earth Day, April 22. An exhibition of all things green at Georgetown.
- The Move Out Drive – coordinating move out to reduce waste and reuse items.
Other efforts on campus?
- Check out campus-wide efforts at sustainability.georgetown.edu.
- Join the effort to reduce your energy. The Switch It Off campaign is ongoing now! Help your building reduce its energy: http://sustainability.georgetown.edu/getinvolved/switchitoff/.
- How is Georgetown doing on Sustainability now? Check out the 2010 College Sustainability Report Card at greenreportcard.org.
Some of our efforts for the 2009-2010 year:
- A Little Something Green campaign to encourage sustainability in residence halls.
- September Green: Be Bright, Turn off the Light
We delivered small cards to RAs to post above public and/or private light switches, to encourage residents to turn off lights when not in use. Compact Florescent (CFL) bulbs use 75% less energy, so when you do turn on a light, use a CFL!
- October Green: Recycling Facts (as of September 2009)
- Gtown recycles 46% of waste. Make it 47.
- Gtown earns about $70,000 for some of its recyclables. Make it $70,001.
- Gtown accepts ANY NUMBER PLASTIC (even plastic bags). Do the math. Recycle plastic. All of the plastic goes to Covanta Waste Energy facilities to create energy.
- There’s little need for recycled glass. One landfill not so far away has a 500ft high glass mountain. Get a reusable container to limit your glass and plastic.
- Gtown as 200 tons of trash per month. Make it 199 recycle.
- Georgetown recycled 18 tons of paper in September 2009. Turn it over. Re-use paper and reduce our waste.
- November Green: Resources for RAs
- Programs around sustainability.
- Bulletin boards that highlight Georgetown’s sustainable efforts, Georgetown’s carbon emissions, and more.
- January Green: Automatic door open use awareness
- Think twice before use of automatic door buttons!
- First, use of the buttons wears them out for those who NEED to use them. That more often they are used unnecessarily, the more quickly they break down, and the more likely those who need to use the automatic feature might be left out in the cold.
- Second, use of the button wastes energy. As doors automatically pull open and remain open, heating and cooling (the highest contributing factor to Georgetown’s carbon emissions) escape.
- February Green Green your laundry!
- Use concentrated or green detergent
- Wash full loads in cold water
- Ditch dryer sheets & clean the lint filter frequently
- Hang clothes to dry
- April Green: Green Square
- Come to Green Square on April 22nd, 11am-2pm. An Earth Day fair to highlight all of the Green initiatives at Georgetown.
- May Green: Re-purpose your packing
- Reduce waste and increase the life cycle of your goods. Donate items to the move out drive to give to those in need in D.C.More information at http://reslife.georgetown.edu/studentfamily/resources/moveout.html.
- Gathering information on campus-wide efforts. We are meeting with administrators and student groups. Please let us know if you’d like for us to visit a meeting or if you’d like to come to one of ours.
- Campus initiatives for residential living. We work on campus-wide initiatives to encourage sustainability. You might have noticed the following this year:
- Tips on living sustainably in first hall/apartment meetings
- Space for those who live together to talk about how they will live sustainably in roommate and apartment agreements
- Space for each residence hall to create floor expectations around sustainability in the Community Living Expectations form.
- Staff connections. We work to increase appreciation for housekeeping and facilities staff.
Our mission:
Project Hilltop promotes awareness and facilitates community ownership that fosters care of the Georgetown Hilltop.
Project Hilltop Goals
- Increase student behavior that demonstrates pride in and responsibility for residential areas.
- Increase student awareness of vandalism/trash/waste in residential areas and how residents are held responsible.
- Increase residents’ ownership of creating sustainable residential spaces.
- Increase communication between building staff (RA/CC/HD/AC) and custodial/facilities staff
For the 2005-2006 academic year, The Office of Residence Life with support from the Office of Student Conduct, the Housing Office, the Office of Housing Operations and InterHall launched a new campaign called Project Hilltop. The purpose of this campaign was to increase student behavior which demonstrates pride in their living areas, raise student awareness of vandalism, reduce vandalism charges, and educate students on the community billing process. The project also set out to strengthen communication between residents, building staff and custodial staff.
The Project Hilltop Committee created a marketing campaign to educate students about vandalism, community building process, and reporting acts of vandalism and destruction that occur in the community. Additionally, the Committee sponsored the first annual Hilltop Week, which centered on activities and programs in the residence halls that would bring the community together. Some of the activities included: Community Service Day, Bulletin Board contest, Facilities/ Housekeeping Appreciation Day, Grounds Clean–up and Beautification Day. Furthermore, as an added incentive, the Committee created Hilltop Grants in the amount of $100.00, to encourage Resident Assistants, Apartment Managers and Community councils to continue to advance and promote the goals of Project Hilltop through their individual and/or collective programming.
With vandalism on the down swing, the group transitioned to focus on community ownership around sustainability in 2007-2008.
The Hilltop Committee believes that education, proactive program planning and most importantly accountability and pride will produce safe, sustainable and hospitable environments for our students to live, study and thrive.
