Sustainability & Climate Applied Learning (SCALe) Internship

Timeline

2024

This internship ran from August 2024 to May 2025.

Description

Affiliated programs: Green Devils Intern Program and SCALe

Summary

This internship project functioned to support the Sustainability and Climate Applied Learning (SCALe) program, a university-wide initiative that uses the campus as a living laboratory for climate and sustainability education. SCALe works to integrate applied learning into academic experiences by supporting course development, awarding SCALe Mini Grants for collaborative pilot projects, and facilitating research and benchmarking efforts that connect sustainability challenges on campus to real-world solutions. The program serves students, faculty, and staff across disciplines, with the goal of making sustainability and climate action a visible, hands-on part of the Duke experience. In this role, interns helped foster partnerships, managed engagement efforts, and led storytelling through SCALe Spotlight stories, which feature individuals using the campus in innovative ways to advance climate and sustainability goals. Additionally, student interns supported the launch of the mini-grant program, including structuring the application process, selection criteria and completion metrics. Their contributions strengthened Duke’s applied learning initiatives and supported the broader goals of the Duke Climate Commitment and the Office of Climate and Sustainability.

Goals

1. Integrate real-world climate and sustainability challenges into academic and co-curricular experiences to promote applied learning across disciplines.

2. Support partnerships among students, faculty, and staff through SCALe Mini Grants and course-based initiatives that encourage creative, solution-oriented projects.

3. Track, analyze, and create visual summaries of SCALe activities and outcomes to communicate progress, support decision-making, and showcase the program’s value.

4. Share the work of campus changemakers by writing SCALe Spotlight stories that highlight innovative uses of the campus for climate and sustainability action.

Experience and Learning Outcomes

This project was part of the year-long paid internship Green Devils program managed by Office of Climate and Sustainability. The interns supported the distribution of $37,000 in SCALe Mini Grants across 10 interdisciplinary projects. Additionally, they conducted research, led interviews, and ultimately composed multiple SCALe Spotlight stories, published on the Duke Office of Climate and Sustainability website and promoted across social media channels. Through this experience, students reported strengthened skills in program coordination and storytelling while learning how to build partnerships that support a cross-disciplinary program such as applied climate learning.

Recommendations

To build on this project's success in the future, program leads should continue to invest in building strong relationships across campus. Additionally, prioritize strong organization and planning to support the wealth of moving variables (especially during the Mini Grant cycle and communications efforts). As the program grows through a network of connections, it will become more impactful and will require high levels of organization.

Student Interns: Mason Ibrahim and Dima Zlenko

Intern Supervisor: Emily Bilcik, Assistant Director of Sustainability and Climate Applied Learning