Ashley Koide, a senior at UC Santa Barbara, transferred to our campus just last year but has already championed the environmental efforts of the UCSB Greek Community. She is the current President of Greeks Gone Green, as well as Vice President of External Affairs for the Panhellenic Executive Board. As President of Greeks Gone Green, Ashley has both reactivated the organization and started a strong outreach program to the community of Isla Vista to ensure we are doing our best to create a sustainable environment. Ashley describes her journey with Greeks Gone Greek and their goals for growth.
When did you first hear about Greeks Gone Greek and how did you decide to become involved?
Coming into UCSB as a transfer student was an experience I never imagined. I first heard of “Greeks Gone Green” as a group in the UCSB app on Facebook. That sparked my interest, and asked a former Greeks Gone Green member, Gina Fronke, how to get involved. I soon learned that Greeks Gone Green became inactive once the original founder, Michael Hewitt, had graduated. Gina had then got me in contact with Michael, and I spoke to him on how I can make Greeks Gone Green happen again. I found that it was no longer a registered campus organization either, and decided to register the organization in winter quarter 2011.
Was it hard to reenergize the organization?
At first it was difficult finding others that wanted to become a part of this organization. I had only been in UCSB for one quarter, so I did not know many members from other houses that could potentially want to be a part restarting this organization. Then Emmy Beck, the current Vice President, expressed her interests in helping the start-up. “I saw a lot of room for improvement in terms of recycling, waste management, energy conservation and education within the greek houses and I wanted to do something about it. So I found out that Ashley
had restarted GGG and could not have been happier to join efforts!” We worked together to really outreach to more Greeks and Non-Greeks to help out the Greek community become more sustainable!
What is Greeks Gone Green?
Greeks Gone Green is a student organization that hopes to achieve the goal of creating more sustainable houses in Isla Vista, especially in the Greek community. Greeks Gone Green has four main aspects towards creating a more sustainable community: energy efficiency, recycling, increasing environmental awareness, and composting.
Do you have any goals for the coming year? What are some activities we can expect to see happening in the future?
Now that it is a new year, we have new goals for Greeks Gone Green and an amazing advisor Kristin Van Ramshorst, Greek Affairs Director. We
have non-greeks in Executive Board positions, and we are trying to outreach to everyone possible. With the help of students from Coastal Fund, AS Zero Waste Committee, and EAB; we are hosting workshops in different houses teaching everyone new topics within environmentalism. We will also be doing more waste audits, rummaging through trash and recycling, to see progress from these workshops. We are also going to be doing some energy audits to find out which house reduces the most energy, and offering $100 towards that house’s
philanthropy at the end of winter quarter. We can’t wait to see how this year will go, and are open to new members all year round!
How can someone become involved?
e-mail: greeksgonegreenucsb@gmail.com
FB:https://www.facebook.com/UCSBGreeksGoneGreen