Green Mountain College: Student Snapshot

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Christina-Alexa Liakos '09

Training with Greenpeace provides for in-depth experience with environmental campaigns

From the Environmental Studies Newsletter, February '07

My name is Christina-Alexa Liakos. I am a sophomore here at Green Mountain College, a Greenpeace Organizing Term Alum, and Campus Coordinator for Greenpeace, USA. During the fall '06 semester, I was given the unique opportunity, thanks to support from professors and advisors here at GMC, to represent the College as 1 of 9 students from all over the country in the Greenpeace Organizing Term.

Based in San Francisco, the GOT, as it is called for short, is a semester of training for student activists. It is action-filled and provides hands-on experience for students to become environmental leaders. I learned and was trained in grass-roots organizing, media, direct action, and campaign strategy.

But, all that said, it was so much more. I met and learned from some of the most inspirational activists and organizations fighting for the rights of our environment for future generations. In my semester with Greenpeace I helped create and run a 2-week campaign and recruitment drive on climate change and global warming, focusing on the candidates running for an open seat in congress in Colorado.

I gave class raps, petitioned, phone banked, recruited volunteers, listened to local citizens, bird-dogged each candidate, worked with college students, and ran a day of action for 150 volunteers. The message was "save our snow" spelled out by voters of Colorado, to alert their representatives that global warming is a serious issue. This experience has given me the confidence and tools I need to contribute to positive change; here at GMC and in the community.

Along with the training and campaign, I traveled to Holland to the International Headquarters of Greenpeace to get campaign briefs about environmental and human rights issues by people who are working all over the world to protect this planet. While we were there we kicked off Greenpeace's newest campaign on toxins, Green My Apple, by handing out free organic green apples along with info on the campaign in front of Apple stores. Connecting to individuals with whom I did not even share a language was quite an experience in itself!

I have learned so much from this Greenpeace experience that I could not even begin to explain my personal growth. The memories are forever, and I have taken all that I have been taught back to GMC where I want to give back to this campus. The positive change that is waiting to be done to create less of an impact on the earth is endless, and GMC is just the place to get students involved and engaged in making positive changes for mother earth.

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