Washington Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference (WOHESC) 2024 Scholarships

Amount Awarded: $8,150.00

Academic Year: 2023-2024 

Implementation: Winter 2024

This project provided 50 scholarships for students to attend the Washington and Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference 2024 (WOHESC). Universities in the Pacific Northwest rotate the responsibility of hosting the conference every year, and this year it was hosted on Western's campus. The grant team wanted to remove the financial barrier that comes with registering for WOHESC by providing students with the opportunity to attend the three-day conference, free of charge. The team’s hope was that in attending this conference, students will expand their understanding of sustainability by learning about what sustainability work is being done in higher education institutions across the region. 

The project started with a pre-WOHESC forum that gave the scholarship recipients an opportunity to ask questions about the conference and connect with each other. One main goal of this project was to create a cohort experience where students could find resources and connect with like-minded peers on campus. The theme of the conference itself was “Learning from Place: Solutions Beyond Boundaries.” WWU was the perfect host for this conference, given its proximity to an international border, as well as their Border Policy Research Institute. 

Testimonials: 

“By creating opportunities for students to professionally develop and connect with off-campus sustainability partners, we open the door for future cross-collaboration between higher education and the private and nonprofit sectors. Having our students at the forefront of these opportunities allows for critical engagement that would otherwise not have been possible without attending events like WOHESC. Moreso than anything, this project served as a great reminder of how important it is to engage students in ongoing sustainability work and provide them with the platform to insert themselves in these initiatives.” - grant team member