Congratulations to the Office of First Year Experience, who recently achieved a bronze award within the Sustainable Office Program! They are the 26th office to be certified through the program, which began in spring 2015.
The Sustainable Office Program is a voluntary, self-guided program designed for staff and faculty to take the lead on promoting environmental practices in the workplace. OFYE earned a bronze level certification by completing 48 actions within categories including ‘Participation & Engagement,’ Climate & Energy,’ Food & Dining,’ ‘Purchasing,’ Community Building & Social Equity,’ ‘Transportation,’ ‘Waste,’ ‘Water,’ and ‘Events & Meetings.’ Many of them are day-to-day actions that will allow the office to reduce its environmental footprint and contribute toward Lehigh’s sustainability goals. 
Each office within the Sustainable Office Program has a representative that plays an important role in encouraging sustainability in the office and coordinating the certification process. Stefanie Burke is the representative for the Office of First Year Experience. When asked why her office wanted to join the program, she said, “We were glad to participate in the Sustainable Office Program, because we believe we all need to do our part in sustainability and strive to be good stewards of our community. Becoming certified wasn't as difficult as we thought it might be. When going through the checklist, we realized we were already doing many of the action items and the program just encouraged us to do a little bit more.”
As OFYE celebrates their achievement, we hope they will share this good news with their colleagues and encourage other officers to join the program! If your office is interested in participating, please fill out a registration form, and a Sustainable Office team member will reach out to discuss the program with your office.