Campus Circularity Coordinator Internship

Timeline

2025

Description

Affiliated programs: Green Devils Intern Program, Devils Thrifthouse

Summary 

Devil’s Thrifthouse is a campus circularity initiative that collects clothing and household items from the campus community and redistributes them to students through free pop-up thrift events. This year, this initiative took the form of 2 campus-wide pop ups along with 4 organizational collaborations. Each event engaged hundreds of students and recirculated nearly 2,000 items across the year. The project addressed textile waste and overconsumption by making sustainable alternatives to fast fashion more accessible and visible within the Duke community. It targeted the student body and partnered with campus housing, student organizations, and sustainability offices to coordinate donation drives, manage inventory, and host high-traffic events. Key activities included organizing collection systems, planning and executing pop-ups, and conducting outreach to educate students on the environmental impact of their consumption. By diverting usable goods from landfills and encouraging reuse, the project supported Duke’s climate and sustainability goals related to waste reduction and behavior change. 

Goals

1) Expand Access to Sustainable Consumption: make thrifting visible, convenient, and free to all members of the Duke community.

2) Divert Waste & Promote Reuse: reduce campus textile and household waste by collecting usable items and redistributing them through targeted pop-up events.

3) Strengthen Campus Circularity Partnerships: collaborate with housing, student organizations, and sustainability offices to build a connected campus circularity network.

4) Educate & Drive Behavior Change: raise awareness about the environmental impacts of fast fashion and consumption to foster long-term habits around reuse.

Experience and Learning Outcomes

This project was part of the year-long paid internship Green Devils program managed by the Office of Climate and Sustainability. The team organized events to engage the Duke community in circularity from initial planning to event execution. In collaboration with various campus partners, they hosted two campus-wide pop-ups and more than four smaller-scale events. For each project, the team managed marketing and outreach, coordinated donation bin placement and collections, sorted inventory, supervised volunteers, and oversaw day-of logistics. While larger events required extensive logistical planning to bring to fruition, smaller collaborative events involved more coordination meetings. These sessions proved essential for aligning goals and delegating responsibilities effectively. Direct collaboration with campus partners helped the team develop key professional skills in communication and teamwork. Once roles were assigned, the interns created promotional and educational materials, made frequent trips to transport donated goods to the Swift closet, and successfully managed event operations onsite.

Recommendations

First, the team recommends institutionalizing Devil’s Thrifthouse in order to secure long-term funding, storage, and continuity, while expanding permanent donation bins across dorms and high-traffic areas for consistent year-round collection. Additionally, work to continue to normalize thrifting on campus by hosting frequent, smaller pop-up events, expanding partnerships with diverse student organizations, and strengthening marketing and education focused on textile waste and behavior change. 

Student Interns: Charlotte Caddell and Mia Pao

Intern Supervisor: Sophia Masciarelli, Sustainability Engagement Coordinator