Lark Circularity Internship

Timeline

2025

Description

Affiliated programs: Green Devils Intern Program, Say the Thing, Duke Chapel

Summary

The Lark Circularity Interns supported the Duke Chapel and Duke Office of Climate and Sustainability in diverting materials away from landfill to be used for values-based events and activities for students under the ‘Say the Thing’ program. Responsibilities included stakeholder engagement, event planning and management, material collection, and coordination. The position required creativity and out-of-the-box thinking as they sought to reduce waste, engage the Duke community in moral agency activities, and integrate sustainability goals into campus partnerships. The core initiatives of this project were to nurture campus partnerships to identify items and materials destined for landfill and then to organize pop-up events across campus focused on identity building. Using the discarded materials, these events introduced moments of reflection, contemplation, and delight into students' lives. 

Goals

1. Collect unwanted items and materials from campus stakeholders to be used for Lark pop-up events, recirculating and diverting materials away from landfill. 
2. Expand campus partnerships to build long-term relationships and discover new unwanted materials that are available for collection. 
3. Engage Duke students with questions of morality and identity by hosting 5-10 Lark pop-up events across both semesters. 

Experience and Learning Outcomes

This project was part of the year-long, paid Green Devils internship program managed by the Office of Climate and Sustainability. The interns helped to envision, plan, and execute all Lark activities throughout the academic year. Diverting over 500 pounds of waste, the interns collected and created an inventory of materials to turn into creative, transformative, and ethics-based activities for students. Across 15 pop-ups, the interns welcomed over 1000 participants, including students, faculty, staff, and visitors to campus, to activities such as making talismans from old bottlecaps, making buttons from trash paper, and screen printing on second-hand shirts. Throughout the academic year, the interns developed strong stakeholder engagement skills, building both professional and interpersonal capacities to successfully drive a multistakeholder project. Moreover, by thinking creatively and critically about the Lark events ideas, the interns strengthened their outside-the-box thinking and creativity. These skills are manifested into the interns’ ability to drive sustainability forward on campus and beyond. 

Recommendations 

Student Interns: Tsedensodnom (Terry) Uranbold, Lalie Marie 

Intern Supervisor: Leah Torrey, Director of Special Initiatives at Duke Chapel