The Student Sustainability Center (SSC) is a student-led community organization that connects students with environmentally focused volunteering opportunities. The group tackles topics like green living, environmental justice and community building. They maintain the Smith Garden and assist students interested in developing their gardening skills. Each term the SSC offers various sustainability related events like community cleanups and agricultural workshops.
“The Student Sustainability Center engages students in becoming intersectional sustainability leaders by providing experiential learning opportunities,” according to the SSC website.
From May 12–16, the SSC held their first Sustainable Fashion Week—a multifaceted event showcasing the importance of environmentally friendly fashion. The four part event followed a unique format each day, consisting of a film screening, panels, an art gallery and a runway fashion show.
“I’m excited for people to have this opportunity to connect with each other, but also maybe be inspired that their creativity could lead them to a larger purpose,” said Luna Rivera, the Lead Organizer of Sustainable Fashion Week and Environmental Justice Coordinator at the SSC.
The SSC collaborated with various other student groups and programs to bring Sustainable Fashion Week together. Including PSU’s Textile Arts program, of which many of its students had work featured in the fashion show. The event also follows the recent introduction of the Sustainable Fashion minor at PSU—which tabled at the event. Another point of collaboration came through the Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge (ITECK) certificate program, with the show being held outside the ITECK Center and its Oak Savanna space.
The runway fashion show titled, Eco_Edit, was the icing on the cake for the event and acted as a closing ceremony for the week as a whole. It featured five student designers, with all pieces produced in sustainable ways. Models strutted down the Walk of Heroines path, showcasing expansive motions of self expression and ecological statements. With a huge turnout, PSU students showed their love for fashion and our planet.
“Environmentalism can be connected to anything, any interest you have no matter how far it seems, there’s a way to intersect the two,” Rivera said.
