The PCC Undergraduate Cohort (UCo) is guided by the mission to connect students to climate science, careers, and community. The current mission statement stands as:

“This year we strive to further build an interpersonal community of students and direct our events around the interest of our members. We will continue to uphold our tradition of student networking and professional development, this year with events focused on internships and campus resources. We plan to host casual social events to engage with our student community and branch out by partnering with other environmental RSOs. We strive to work alongside and serve our greater Seattle community by working on environmental service projects. Finally, we want to pursue peer education events including paper and current event discussions.”

The undergraduate cohort hosts an open leadership style, inviting all students to join leadership and event planning. This year, the leadership team consists of 11 undergraduates who routinely attend the weekly planning meetings. This represents students majoring in ESRM, Informatics, OCEAN MarBio, SAFs, PoE, BSE, ESS, and Engineering in years 1-4 of their undergraduate study. These students help plan, organize, and communicate events of interest for their undergraduate peers.  In diving deeper into how this mission is experienced by students, I explored the events and resulting student impacts from their involvement. 

In the last year, the UCo leadership switched from an online meeting format to in-person weekly meetings. This helped students facilitate real conversation and get to know each other as people, forming a community within the leadership group. Moving to the in-person meeting format started a bit awkward, but the group has driven conversation sparked by the quirky “question of the day” to spark discussion and a more relaxed atmosphere. This initial switch in autumn 2024 helped the leadership group grow and work more collaboratively.

Furthering community building, the UCo leadership team has sought to host events that bring together students in a casual and approachable environment. The hope is that students can connect informally in these environments, build community connections, and feel more comfortable together in professional and academic settings. UCo has explored these events often with the yearly kick-off event. This year, they hosted a competitive climate trivia game over lunch. This event brought in two new permanent leadership members who helped develop the recent movie and origami night. At this event, students joined to watch Wall-E, accompanied by snacks, craft supplies, and hot cocoa. This lighthearted event was a nice weekday break and invited new students to be involved, ask questions, and sign up for the listserve to learn about future events.

The community building has gone beyond just those interested in climate, as UCo joined with SER (the Society for Ecological Restoration) to support efforts in removing invasive species and restoring Yessler Swamp. This was a great hands-on learning experience with an important purpose, as swamps like these are significant carbon hosts. Working side-by-side, UCo spent the time chatting and navigating thorny blackberry bushes. Not only did the group have a great time in the sun, but they helped SER reach its highest attended restoration event in the last 5 years. This short session helped make a significant impact on the pace of the project, and as a reward for their laborious efforts, UCo enjoyed warm bagels from Hey Bagel together afterwards.

Focusing on the goal of professional development and career planning, UCo invited PCC alumni for a climate careers speaker panel. The event can be read about more in the official blog post. Strong student feedback highlighted that exposure to both industry and research was insightful. The emphasis on the ability to change directions and fields was comforting as students face uncertainty after graduation. This was backed by the reminder that so many skills are transferable and there are many ways to apply your interests and strengths. This event saw the largest spread of student majors in attendance, sparked by the varied backgrounds of research, remote sensing, industry, transportation, clean energy, climate risk, and business.

One alum in particular, Taryn Black, extended an invitation to Smarty Pints, a monthly science talk at the Burke Gilman Brewery. UCo joined as a community to hear UW speakers Caroline Stromberg and Aakash Manapat present their work in a widely approachable tone. This event helped facilitate further discussion in climate science and bring together the undergraduate community. UCo was proud to support one of Smarty Pints’ highest attended evenings.

Connecting with informal education and research, UCo has arranged a series of grad chats. These events invite a graduate student (or pair of students) to share their research and experience with undergraduate students. This series was inspired by a faculty chat with Kendall Valentine last spring. These events help students engage with current climate research at UW in a welcoming environment at an approachable level. The invited scientists start with a presentation of both their research and how they got into that research, and then drift into an active student-led discussion. Students have shared that this has helped them see the breadth of research disciplines and styles at UW and how exciting and impactful research can be. In our feedback forms, students have indicated appreciation for the chance to ask topic-specific questions, seek advice, and connect directly with graduate students and faculty on their interests. 

UCo is excited to continue planning events that bring together students for climate education, professional development, service, and community. In the next month, UCo will be hosting two more grad chats with grad students Stella Heflin (ATMOS) and Amelia Dogan (i-School). The undergraduates will also be hosting an “explore the Burke” meet-up to learn about Washington’s changing natural history as a community.

Written by Elise Herzfeld, PCC Undergraduate Assistant and UCo Leadership Member. This post was written with the recognition of diverse student perspectives and experiences. Rather than attaining one voice, this narrative hopefully addresses the intended and responded impact of UCo events in the undergraduate community.