MEET UNIVERSITY SERVICES� NEWEST �GREEN� STAR

�Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion,� said a wise German poet and dramatist, Christian Friedrich Hebbel. This kind of passion has been exhibited this year by one of the University Services� newest additions, public relations senior Sarah Chesley. And accomplish, she has.

Since joining the team in January 2010, Chesley has written the Sustainability blog, reformatted the Green UH website, edited a monthly sustainability newsletter, developed a Green UH media kit and contributed her knowledge and time to many Green UH events. Throughout UH�s RecycleMania competition, Chesley was a valuable team member helping to educate the university on recycling and tracking contributions during the UH team competitions after weekly weigh-ins.

�Sarah�s passion for green initiatives has become contagious in our department,� said Jonas Chin, Constituent Relations Coordinator for University Services. �Her knowledge, creative insight and diligence is exceptional and we�re proud to have her as a colleague.�

Chesley developed her enthusiasm for green initiatives during an internship with Green Lily Events where she discovered the importance of sustainability. She said when she began her internship in November 2009, she found that the other staff had a lot of knowledge about sustainability, and she made it her own personal mission to learn.

�I thought, �wow, this is a great way to live.� It makes you feel good about yourself when you�re doing something for the environment and the community too. It creates a better living environment for everyone,� Chesley said.

During her internship, Chesley began gaining experience in public relations work, planning events, doing green consulting, posting on social media and writing mass communications, blogs and press releases. She also worked for the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center before and after the internship was complete, where she discovered she enjoyed working on the UH campus. This year, she brought her talents to the University Services team.

�I always knew that I wanted to do something to help other people and create good social change, and I felt like this job, being on a university campus and with what we are trying to promote, was a perfect fit for me. I really wanted to help the students learn about being green and make the university a more sustainable campus,� she said.

Aside from her marketing work, Chesley became a member of the Sustainability Leadership Council on campus, a student organization working to educate and implement green programs on the UH campus. She said they are currently exploring incentives to bring more students to their mission and push green initiatives on campus even more. She hopes to carry over a project to the rest of the campus that the marketing team has currently been working on that showcases green efforts in auxiliary services on display boards. She hopes these boards will become something students notice and look for throughout the university, serving as a constant reminder of green efforts and practices.

Chesley is also a member of the Public Relations Student Society of America and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She is currently the communications director for the German Club (German is her minor) and plans to spend her honeymoon in Germany after marrying her fianc�, Dwan Kelly, in May. She has also explored photography and web design, creating her own personal website and planning to build their wedding website.

With her interest in a cleaner, healthier earth along with her fianc�s influence as a Kinesiology major, Chesley said she has also become passionate about nutrition and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. She loves to rock climb, practice yoga and has grown up dancing. She also sang competitively in high school and hopes to start singing and playing piano again this summer while she has time off from school.

Her well-rounded personality and passion for what she believes in has made Chesley a welcome addition to the University Services marketing team family. She is continuing her marketing work throughout the summer and is sure to be seen next year during green events.

�I love working for the marketing team,� she said. �It�s the best work environment that I�ve ever been in. There�s no hostility, everyone cares for each other. And everyone wants everyone else to succeed.�